Never Judge

"All of us have suffered something similar to what I did." Krista continued as she gathered herself. "Paolo was stabbed by his brother Carlo Juan, Jun David had Matteo beaten up for looking at the secretary for too long, Tricia was offered to several executives by her brother Benjamin Sanchez, and Erik's wife died when his brother Kevin raped her, she was so depressed she took her life. They did this without knowing we were their half siblings. If they ever found out and we weren't ready, we would all suffer much worse than we already have." As Krista spoke her voice was full of anger, Cedric couldn't blame her. Anyone in their position might have already done something much worse.

"My brother and I will give you the power to seek out revenge." Ayanna suddenly said, stealing Cedric's line.

"Thank you Ayanna, Thank you Cedric." Tricia Sanchez said in a shaky voice. 

"As part of my instructions to your fathers, they will name you their heirs." Cedric said. "But we are not in a rush. We shouldn't rush this. For your brothers to feel the full impact of what we are doing we need to not only take from them everything they believed to be theirs, but we will also drag them and their names through the mud. Their wives will leave them, then their mistresses, then the world will abandon them."

When everyone had calmed down Cedric told them to wait patiently for his instructions. He was going to make some moves soon, they should be ready for what he was going to do next. 

As Ian and Camilla escorted them out, Cedric noticed Ayanna speaking on the phone with a puzzled look on her face.

"But mom, didn't you just go back there a week ago?" Ayanna asked. "Yeah, but can't I go with you?"

Cedric raised an eyebrow and Ayanna signaled for him to wait.

"Mom, how about Cedric, he can join you." Ayanna said defiantly.

"You don't have to go back on your own." Ayanna argued again.

"Fine, fine, fine.’’ Ayanna said, as she dropped the call.

"Mom's going back to the headquarters of Clarin Industries. She said another issue came up." Ayanna told her brother.

"Why can't you go in her place?" Cedric asked.

"I said that, she said it had to be her. She just told me to look after things here since Elisia Malls is heading into a crucial stage." Ayanna frustratedly said.

"It's just one day." Cedric said with a shrug.

"No, not one day, three days. And what's worse is that she said she would have to go there every week now and stay for three days!" Ayanna was not happy with her mother's decision. 

"That's odd. Dad said that even back when mom was trying to learn how to manage Clarin Industries she would only fly back once a week." Cedric said as he recalled an old story his dad told him.

 "I don't know what's up with Clarin Industries these days. It was fine a month ago, then suddenly there are issues everywhere. Anyway I need to get back to R Tower, mom wasn't lying when she said Elisia Malls was going through a major development soon. Veronica's design is going to be implemented in our flagship malls so I need to make sure that the designs are not leaked." Ayanna said as she gathered her things and left Cedric's office.

Cedric sat back down behind his table and thought about what Ayanna had said, a month ago Clarin Industries was running smoothly. What if it's internal issues were linked to the issues the Reyes Group was facing? It would make sense to use Clarin Industries as a distraction for his father and sister, they were, after all, very much concerned about how their mother's business fared.

With that thought he called Ian and Camilla in. 

"Something is going on at Clarin Inc., find out what it is. I think it might be related to what is happening to the Reyes Group." Cedric said before dismissing Ian and Camilla. 

The day was quite tiring for Cedric, he had back to back meetings and was given the bad news that the Tech Hub he was building would be delayed. On top of all that one of the key scientists they were hoping to hire had just backed out. 

It seemed the problems were piling up on top of one another. By the time he was done with work he dragged himself down to the basement parking and slept as he was driven home to Mountain View.

When he arrived he was surprised to see his Aunt Aurora and Marie at the living room with his mother. Both his mom and Aunt Marie had suitcases next to them.

"Cedric! We got to see you before we leave!" Priscilla happily greeted her son as she gave him a hug. 

"I didn't know Aunt Aurora was going with you?" Cedric asked as he looked at their bags.

"Well I could use more help, and since she's somewhat passed on most of her work to Marie and your Uncle A, she can come with me to help." Priscilla explained. "I hope Ayanna doesn't get mad at me for this." Priscilla said as a look of worry came upon her face.

"I'm sure Ayanna will understand." Cedric said with a nod. "Do you want me to take you to the airport?" He asked.

"No need. You look tired." His Aunt Aurora said, Cedric didn't even argue with what she said. He simply nodded and headed up to his room to take a bath before dinner. 

By the time Cedric came back down both his mom and Aunt Aurora had already left. Adrianna and Marie were happily chatting on the dinner table, while the grandparents were playing with the baby.

Cedric came up and hugged his wife, he planted a gentle kiss on her forehead before finally taking his seat. 

"You guys are so sweet it's making me jealous." Marie sighed.

"Where's Ayanna?" Cedric asked as he noticed that his sister was missing.

"Out with the girls. Katerina dragged them for drinks." Adrianna said with a shrug as Cedric held her hand and kissed it.

"I swear you guys are too sweet." Marie teased.

"You wouldn't be so jealous if you forgave him." Cedric said with a wink.

"He has to earn it." Marie said, defending herself.

"It's been years Marie." Cedric said, rolling his eyes. He pitied Marco for being with a woman like Marie.

The help soon served dinner and everyone ate happily. It was only the Reyes family at home that night since Miguel had gone home to visit his parents.

Everyone greeted each other good night and went to their respective rooms while Cedric drove Marie and Uncle A home.

"A driver could have taken us home Cedric." Uncle A told him. "We know you're a busy person, plus the Reyes Group is facing some odd issues now."

"I don't mind Uncle A." Cedric said with a smile as they stopped at Marie's house. "When will you settle back here Marie? This community is too quiet." Cedric complained.

"Ha. You know that I need to run our international offices, me coming back here permanently is very unlikely cousin." Marie said as she and Uncle A bid Cedric goodnight. 

As Cedric's car arrived at the driveway of his Mountain View mansion he saw his father getting into the driver's seat of one of the security vehicles and leaving.