Never Judge

"Sir, no, please forgive me. I miss spoked." Mark Chu said as he fell on his knees. It was bad enough that he couldn't afford to offend the Laurence family, but offending the Reyes family was much worse.

"You're a kid. You make foolish choices. Learn." Ray said, forgiving Mark Chu.

​​

Ray had come over to give a short speech then leave. He had thanked everyone for working hard and completing the project ahead of schedule. He had even thrown in a joke or two about how busy he was about to get with wedding planning and how he was hoping his bride to be wasn't a bridezilla.

The women in the crowd wither sighed at how sad it was that he was getting married or plotted on how to climb into Raymund Laurence's bed and become his mistress.

Adrianna who was listening quietly couldn't help but wonder if many women said the same thing about her husband.

"What are you thinking about?" Cedric asked Adrianna.

"Just wondering if women whisper about you the same way they do about Ray." Adrianna confessed. "My own friends wanted to be your mistress! How much more other women?" Adrianna said with a light chuckle that made Cedric nervous.

"If you want, I can make sure that all women stay at least six feet away from me at all times." Cedric boldly suggested.

"No need. I trust you." Adrianna said as she leaned on Cedric's shoulder.

After his speech Ray immediately left, Adrianna and Cedric stayed for a while before finally using Adrianna's pregnancy as an excuse to leave early.

Outside one of Ray's guards approached Leon with a message, Leon in turn told Cedric that Ray needed to discuss something with Cedric.

"Mia, accompany Adrianna to the car and make sure no one approaches. I'm still worried that someone might try to hurt her." Cedric said as he left to meet Ray in his car.

When Cedric sat in Ray's car his friend was grinning from ear to ear.

"Did you enjoy my little show?" Ray asked.

"I have to admit, embarrassing Lorisa was fun. But I'm sure you didn't call me over just to boast about how well you bully women." Cedric said.

"Bad women." Ray corrected Cedric. "And you're right, I have news. Carlos De Dios has backed down. All the preparations he was making to announce Chris as his son has stopped."

"Good. Our tactic worked." Cedric said with a relieved sigh. At least now he could relax a little bit.

"This doesn't mean he won't stop trying to hurt the Reyes family." Ray said.

"I know, but at least for now we have suppressed him. We need to find out who his backers are." Cedric reminded Ray.

"Alright. Alexi and I are on it. Oh and I have a business deal that needs some Reyes Group help." Ray told Cedric.

"Send the details over. I'll deal with it." Cedric said as he left.

The next day when Cedric woke up to his phone ringing non-stop. It was Miguel Chan.

Cedric looked to his side to make sure Adrianna was still sleeping before heading to the next room so that she wouldn't be bothered by him.

"What's up?" Cedric asked as he picked up the phone.

"Is Veronica there?" Miguel asked in a panicked tone.

"Of course not. Why would she be here? Why don't you call Ram, she's probably still asleep at home." Cedric said sheepishly.

"You don't understand." Miguel shouted.

"Calm down. It's too early for this. Why are you so panicked?" Cedric asked.

"The Abads have announced our engagement! It's all over TV and on Social Media!" Miguel said.

"Aren't you supposed to be the one making the announcement?" Cedric asked.

"I am. I mean we are. The Chans are supposed to be the ones to announce this but the Abads are now saying that they need to do this because of my hesitation to commit. When have you heard me hesitating to commit? I was delaying things for Veronica!" Miguel sounded stressed on the other end, Cedric knew that Veronica was the one that desperately wanted to break the engagement.

"So are you saying that as soon as the Abad's announced this Veronica ran away?" Cedric asked.

"Yes. And of course she isn't with Nicole. I've also called Katerina and Natalia as well, she isn't with them either." Miguel told Cedric.

"Maybe she went to her place, or maybe she flew out to Ayanna." Cedric suggested.

"I doubt. The Abads have already sent people to those places. She would avoid them at all costs." Miguel told Cedric.

"Sir." A maid knocked from outside.

"I think she might be here. Let me check. I'll call you if I have an update." Cedric said, dropping the call and putting on a bathrobe.

"What is it?" Cedric asked as he opened the door.

"Sir, Miss Veronica arrived and insisted that she is staying in one of the guest rooms." The maid informed Cedric.

"Have my parents seen her?" Cedric asked.

"No sir." The maid said.

"Let her stay at the guest house by the pool. I'll go down in a while. Prepare her breakfast as well and send it to the guest house." Cedric instructed as he massaged his temples.

The maid nodded and left.

Cedric got dressed as Adrianna woke up. She checked her phone to see that she had multiple missed calls from Veronica.

"Veronica is at the guest house." Cedric told Adrianna.

"Why?" Adrianna asked.

"She ran away from home and thought that this was the last place people would look for her, it was the third place. Miguel called right before she arrived." Cedric said as he worked on putting on his tie.

"Mmmm. Let me do that." Adrianna said as she went up to fix his tie.

"Will you send her away?" Adrianna asked.

"I don't know yet. I'll talk to her and Miguel first." Cedric said.

"Okay. I'll pass by Veronica before going to work." Adrianna told Cedric.

"You're supposed to have a check up today. Have Mia drive you. I'll meet you at the hospital." Cedric told Adrianna.

When Cedric got to the ground floor of the house his father was sitting on the couch having coffee.