Never Judge

Monday rolled in and Cedric arrived at his office earlier than usual. He was surprised to see Ian and Camilla already chatting when he stepped in.

"What time do the two of you actually come to the office?" Cedric asked as he leaned over their desks. 

"Usually three hours before you." Ian said with a shrug. 

"And your junior assistants?" Cedric asked as he was gaging how long he could stay out without having to wear his disguise. 

"They normally come in ten minutes to nine." Camilla told Cedric.

Cedric looked at his watch, it was currently seven in the morning, meaning he still had time to talk with Camilla and Ian. 

"Do you mind if I work here before they arrive?" Cedric asked.

"Yes." Ian said flatly.

"What? Why? We used to work together all the time." Cedric complained.

"You're our boss. You've got a giant newly renovated office over there. Why would you want to stay out here?" Ian asked.

"Change of scenery." Cedric said with a shrug.

"And what if someone suddenly comes here?" Camilla asked.

"Then it would be perfect. People are already wondering where Cedric Reyes is. I've honestly been too busy with work to keep my assistant identity alive." Cedric explained. 

"The junior assistants think you're at R Tower." Ian pointed out. "You should stay at your office." 

"I can say I brought some documents over. Then I can stay here for a while." Cedric said with a shrug.

"Katerina will arrive in an hour, and you have meetings the whole day, you can't pull it off." Ian warned Cedric. 

"Why do you want me gone so badly?" Cedric grumbled. "Are you talking about me behind my back? Oh I know why, you don't want me to ask!" Cedric said in sudden realization.

"Ask what?" Camilla moved closer to hear the conversation better. 

"What happened after him and Nicole left the party." Cedric said with a laugh.

"We went home. That's it." Ian said, rolling his eyes.

"Ian, remember, this time is the most dangerous time for her and the baby. So behave." Cedric said with a wink.

Ian rolled his eyes and placed his head in his hands.

"I'm an awesome boss." Cedric said with a laugh as he walked away.

He knew he had a lot of work to do, it was the reason why he came in early. After a minute Ian came in with a stack of papers, all of them needed Cedric's signature.

"Is this your way of getting back at me for all the teasing?" Cedric asked as he eyed the stack.

"Hey, I don't control these things. I just hand them to you." Ian said as he placed the papers down on Cedric's desk.

"Do I really need to approve everything?" Cedric complained as he too a random document out of the stack. 

"I send back 80% of everything they think needs your signature. The managers also filter what needs your approval, so yes all of these things do." Ian explained.

Cedric sighed and just began reviewing and reading all the documents on his desk.

"Do you want to hear the morning reports sir?" Camilla asked as she entered to collect whichever documents Cedric had already finished signing. 

Cedric nodded indicating that he would listen. He placed his pen down and leaned back to listen to the daily report. He was happy to hear that their sales had recovered from the impact of the incident at the Tech Hub. Some people had initially called for a strike saying that Mor Co. didn't value it's employee's mental health, it wasn't just their sales that suffered, their stock prices took a dip as well. Luckily majority of shares were in Cedric's name so there was no significant impact, Cedric knew the value of his company and shares were just an indicator of public opinion to him. 

"Has Ayanna's wedding had an impact as well? Many people were quite negative about it." Cedric asked.

"According to our analysts there was little impact on Mor Co. It was larger on Elisia Malls and the Reyes Group, but it's not a big deal since most of the shares are within the family and the marriage was still seen as more beneficial over all." Camilla reported. 

"That's good. At least my sister won't feel bad about impacting the business." Cedric said with a nod. 

"Sir, the employees are asking about when you will resume building the Tech Hub." Camilla told Cedric.

"We can't start until the investigation is over. I've said this before." Cedric said with a sigh. He had no intentions of changing his plans. The mastermind must be found first before they could rebuild.

"They are just wondering sir." Camilla said in an attempt to defend the other employees. 

Cedric sighed and took a few deep breaths.

"Anything else?" He asked Camilla.

"Nothing sir." Camilla replied.

Camilla bowed and left letting Cedric focus his attention back to the papers that needed signing on his desk. Due to the heavy paperwork, he didn't notice that an hour had passed and Ian was knocking on his door.

"Come in." Cedric said without lifting his head as he continued to focus on the documents.

"Sir, Miss Katerina Sebastian is here." Ian announced.

Cedric didn't need to tell Ian to let Katerina in, she just entered and made herself comfortable on the seat nearest to Cedric's desk. 

"One minute." Cedric said as he finished reading a document and wrote something on anot and stuck it on. He added a paper clip to make sure the note wouldn't fall off. "Ian, don't leave." Cedric said as he noticed the door closing.

Ian stopped and went in closing the door behind him.

"Sit." Cedric said pointing to the empty chair across Katerina. 

Ian obayed and sat down.

"Before anything I have a question." Cedric said in the most serious tone. "What happened after you left the party?" Cedric grinned as he got to his point. Ian wouldn't be able to come up with an excuse this time because Katerina was with them.

"Do I have to answer this?" Ian asked.

Katerina who was seated across him crossed her arms and gave him a look. "You better." Katerina said. "I know the two of you spent the whole day at home. I live next door."

Ian sighed and shook his head, Cedric knew his plan wouldn't backfire.

"We went home and talked." Ian explained. "I was confused, very confused. I didn't understand why she wouldn't marry me. We kind of had a shouting match then she broke down into tears, I forgot that pregnant women were sensitive." Ian said with a frown. Cedric could see he was guilty about this so Cedric didn't add on anymore.

"Did you talk about your plans?" Katerina asked.

"Why can't you ask Nicole this?" Ian complained.

"Well she isn't here now." Katerina said with a laugh.

"We spoke about our plans okay. That's it." Ian said

"Okay. You can go." Cedric said with a laugh.

Ian stood up and bowed and left.

"So what did you want me here for?" Katerina asked Cedric.

"I have some potential legal issues coming from the incident." Cedric said as he pushed a stack of documents towards Katerina. "I'd like you to take a look at them and give your opinion. Our in house legal team has already gone through them but I wanted to hear what you would have to say."

Katerina picked up a folder and looked through it.

"Hmmmm, I see some unnecessary steps. I'll read them and get back to you." Katerina said as she placed the folder back. "Is that all?" She asked.

"I want to know what you think would be the best steps to take, legally, against whoever plotted this." Cedric told her. 

"Well it depends on who you're up against. The more powerful they are the harder it will be to go after them legally." Katerina explained.

"Have you considered -" Katerina was mid sentence when her phone began to ring. When she saw who it was she quickly excused herself.

Just as Katerina got up, Ian came bursting in the door.

"Nicole is facing the board and the Chan elders." Ian quickly said. "I need to go to her."

Cedric looked at Katerina. "It's Eric, he's saying the same thing. I need to go to Saints too."