Never Judge

After the meeting Camilla informed Cedric about how she had told Lucius that he would probably be calling her back to work.

Cedric decided to turn it into an opportunity to get Lucius to trust Camilla even more. She would come back to the office but give Lucius some valuable information that would keep him safe from some of Cedric's plans.

"We need to make the moves both big ones and subtle ones." Camilla told Cedric and Ian as they sat in the CEO's office at R Tower.

Camilla had informed Lucius that their suspicions were right, Cedric had summoned her to R Tower to convince her to come back. 

She told Lucius that she would agree while secretly working for him.

"What was the plan that you came up with, Lucius?" Ian asked as he leaned back on the couch. 

"We haven't planned anything yet." Camilla said as she shook her head. "I'm supposed to have dinner with him tonight at his place and we were going to talk about what we are talking about now."

"Then do just that." Ian said.

"Ugh! Ian Vicente Lim, you are fucking annoying. Can't you come up with a smarter idea?" Camilla asked in a frustrated tone.

"He has a point, Camilla." Cedric said as he tried to be the mediator between his two assistants and friends. "At least I think he does." Cedric said with a grin.

"Look, Camilla, if we plan too far ahead we will make a mistake, we will slip." Ian explained. "Let's just think of what you can tell him we talked about then we'll see what plan he formulates from there."

"Okay." Camilla said as she nodded slowly, considering Ian's suggestion. "What did we talk about then?" Camilla asked with a raised eyebrow, challenging Ian to give a suggestion.

"Obviously Cedric asked you to come back and you agreed. You told him that work is separate from personal matters." Ian said, rolling his eyes at Camilla.

"What's got you so short tempered today?" Cedric asked with a laugh. "It's as if I'm speaking to the Ian who first started working at the Reyes Group." 

"That Ian was more fun." Camilla added as she laughed along with her boss. 

The three of them had started working at the Reyes Group at practically the same time. Back then Ian was quite arrogant and hot headed.

He had been very impatient with things and was quite quick to anger. But as the years progressed Ian grew to become the much more mature man that he was now.

"Just Nicole things." Ian said with a sigh as he got up and prepared himself some coffee. "Give me a moment." He told them as he took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

Cedric and Camilla watched as Ian steadied himself, gathering his thoughts and visibly calming down. 

After a few minutes, Ian finally walked back to the couch and sat next to Cedric once more.

"You know you can talk to us about it?" Camilla asked as she sat down next to Ian and placed a hand on his back. 

They had been through a lot together, they had all started working at the Reyes Group almost at the same time.

"Honestly, it's not a big deal, I'm just exhausted." Ian said with a sigh. "I'm fine now, let's just focus on how to take down Lucius Ting. No Lucius Ting, no stress for me." 

"Fine, for now, but seriously Ian, if you need to talk to someone about this we are right here." Cedric told him as Camilla nodded in agreement. 

"I might have said it in the wrong tone earlier, but I stand by my suggestion." Ian said as he revived the discussion. "Tell Lucius that Cedric convinced you to come back and he told you that there are no hard feelings."

"Would there be hard feelings if I actually started dating him?" Camilla asked as she looked to Cedric who was to Ian's left. 

"Of course none." Cedric said with a laugh as he shook his head. "I've always been an advocate of letting people be with those whom they care about, as long as it doesn't cloud your judgement." 

"And what if he asks you what you think about Cedric?" Ian asked Camilla. 

"Of course I will lie." Camilla said with a determined look on her face. "From what he thinks I am furious with Cedric for Aiden's death. I will tell him I lied to Cedric and I was disgusted to be in the same room as him."

"Am I really disgusting?" Cedric teased, making Ian and Camilla laugh. "I miss these normal moments between us." He said with a sigh as he recalled the simpler times when he was just another assistant.

"Things might have been simpler, but things are better now." Camilla reminded the two men. "You both have children now and I'm sure you wouldn't give them up just for the simpler times."

"No, we wouldn't." Cedric said, shaking his head. 

There was a long silence as they all waited for someone to speak, but no one wanted to ruin the somber atmosphere.

"What do you think Lucius will ask you to do?" Cedric said as he turned to Camillia. 

"He will probably expect me to share with him all of the plans of Mor Co. it would be suspicious if I didn't share with him the big ones and just the small ones." Camilla said with a sigh as she thought of what was at risk.

"I think you shouldn't." Ian suggested. "If you gave out the big secrets then Cedric would be able to find out who was leaking the information. If the ideas are small enough then the suspicion won't fall on you."

"That's actually the smarter way to go about it." Camilla said as she thought of Ian's suggestion.

"We could even have rumors go around saying that you are the leak." Cedric said with a nod as a plan began to form.

"Of course, Cedric will have to release a statement saying that it isn't the case." Ian said. "It will look more convincing if Cedric continues to stand by you despite all of the rumors and accusations." 

"It's settled then, that's how we are going to go about this." Cedric told them in a decisive tone. "The more valuable you become to Lucius, the greater a threat you are to Louise."

All they needed to do was to convince Lucius Ting that Camilla was on his side and she would be the perfect wedge to drive the siblings apart.