Never Judge

A host came out and announced to the guests that the auction would start soon and invited everyone into the auditorium in the next room. 

Cedric and his group were led to the area closest to the stage. The other guests were no longer surprised that Adrianna was walking beside Ayanna and chatting happily with her. Ahead of them were the five princes seemingly in deep conversation. 

A hot topic during the event was the Reyes elders arriving with Gracia and Charles, at first people assumed that it meant that they approved of their son's mistress, something completely unheard of. But when Priscilla defended Adrianna and said she was no mistress the other people were now confused as to how the remnants of the Hernandez family managed to get so close to the Reyeses. 

Miguel sat beside Veronica when he noticed Jason arrive with a woman. He walked in proudly as he took a seat at the front. He was grinning ear to ear despite the news articles that were circulating about him.

"He's cocky." Ram told Miguel. Ram had chosen to sit next to Miguel in order to best enjoy the show that was about to unveil before them.

"The longer he shows that proud look, the harder he will fall later." Miguel whispered back to his brother-in-law.

"What are the two of you talking about?" Veronica asked her husband and her brother.

"We were just wondering about what things would be on the auctioning block today." Ram calmly told his sister.

"Oh before I forget. Ram, where did you get that information about Jason? I know that you've been trying to find evidence for years." Veronica asked. Miguel looked at Ram, he hoped that his brother-in-law would know not to tell Veronica about what he did.

"Oh. I had an informant." Ram said in a pathetic attempt to lie.

"Who are you protecting?" Veronica asked suspiciously.

"Look it's starting." Miguel knew Veronica would eventually be able to get the answer out of Ram. They just got lucky that the auction had begun.

Among the items auctioned at the event, it seemed that the twenty most expensive were sold to the Reyes Heir's group. It looked like the young men were bidding non-stop for everything expensive, the event organizer was more than happy to see this. It was exactly what they wanted, they knew these men had practically infinite bank accounts.

"Don't you want to buy anything?" Miguel asked Veronica with a frown. 

"I'm saving to invest in my planned expansion." Veronica said, shaking her head.

"V, I got this. Just buy whatever you want." Miguel said in a loving tone.

"Nope, no way. You'll want something in return." Veronica said looking up a crystal piece she wanted. 

"No strings attached V." Miguel said as he planted a kiss on her forehead. "Watch."

Miguel started bidding for the item Veronica was looking at intently. 

"Miguel, stop. It's not worth it." Veronica complained as she watched the price go beyond its true value.

"As long as you want it, it will always be worth it." Miguel looked at his wife, as long as he could make her smile the price didn't matter. To him, Veronica's happiness was the most important thing in the world.

In the end, Miguel ended up shelling out a few million for the pieces that he saw Veronica wanted. Everytime he raised a bid, she complained, but she couldn't stop him. 

"Congratulations to all of our auction winners." The host finally said as the auction came to the end. "As you all know, annually we recognize a talented artist that has truly defined and reshaped the various industries where art is at its core."

Miguel spotted Jason sitting up and fixing his hair. He leaned over to his female companion and whispered something to her. Judging from her reaction, Miguel figured that Jason did more than just whisper sweet nothings, for some reason it made Miguel want to puke. 

"I would like to call up a few very important guests and donors to give the award." The host said as he looked at the Reyes Heir and Emilio Reyes. "If Mr. Emilio Reyes and his son could join us up here on the stage?" 

Miguel saw Cedric and his father stand up, much to the delight of the organizers. They hadn't asked the representatives from the Reyes Group prior if the father and son would be willing to give the award, the host simply took a gamble when he made the request.

Miguel noticed people raising their phones to take photos, the whole secret identity made Cedric even more popular and it made people more interested both in the person as well as in the company he was set to helm in the future.

"Sirs, thank you for gracing our event." The host said as he handed Cedric and Emilio a microphone each.

"It's an honor to recognize such an outstanding individual." Cedric suddenly said.

Miguel saw Jason looking even happier, he clearly had no idea about the embarrassment he was about to face. Veronica on the other hand was rolling her eyes as Cedric praised the awardee. She still thought that Jason would be the one receiving the recognition that night. 

"I don't understand why they still plan to honor him when Ram just released proof that he faked everything." Veronica complained. 

"Don't worry Veronica, I think Jason is about to get what he truly deserves." Katerina, who was seated in front of her, said with a knowing smile.

Aside from releasing all the information, Miguel had also given the evidence to Katerina so that she could file a case in court against Jason. After tonight, he would lose everything.

"Shall we recognize this inspiring individual?" The host asked Emilio and his son, who in turn simply nodded back.

The audience saw Jason stand up and walk towards the side of the stage, he was fixing himself, preparing to receive the award.

When people saw him preparing to receive the award they began talking among themselves. Everyone had seen the expose on Jason that the Abad News Network had released.

"Are the Reyeses really going to give that fake the award?" A woman behind Veronica and Miguel asked.

"It was their friends, the Abads, that released the expose. They seem to be in good standing, I don't understand what's going on either." Her male companion said.

"Shhhhh. Ram and Veronica Abad are in front of us. But I swear if they give him the award it would be a betrayal by the Reyeses." A woman behind the couple said upon noticing that Ram and Veronica were seated two rows below. The row between them was left empty for security purposes.