Never Judge

When Adrianna got to the car, Mia drove them to Island's Inc. When the employees saw Adrianna coming in clearly in a bad mood, they quickly greeted her and avoided eye contact.

"Tell Henry and Uncle Matthew to meet me in my office." Adrianna ordered her other assistant as she passed by.

After five minutes, Uncle Matthew and Henry walked into Adrianna's office. They were surprised to hear that she came back angry and called for them.

"Did something happen?" Uncle Matthew asked.

"Yes! That stupid old man called me a mistress and said that the only reason they are dealing with us is because they believed my connection to Cedric was as his mistress." Adrianna was unable to control her emotions, she was furious.

"Cousin, calm down. It's not good for the baby." Henry said in a calmer tone.

"Uncle, don't look for another partner. We can do all of these on our own." Adrianna bravely declared.

"I'll get to work on it." Uncle Matthew decided not to question Adrianna on what had happened. He knew his niece to be a logical and a level headed woman, she wouldn't be this mad for no reason.

Adrianna's phone began to ring. When she saw who the caller was, she dropped it.

"Henry, tell me what you know about Elaine Moyra." Adrianna said as she settled into her chair.

"What exactly do you want to know, Adri? Does this have anything to do with what happened earlier?" Henry asked.

"We lost the deal because people think she's Mrs. Reyes." Adrianna said, shaking her head. "This is what I don't want. I don't want people to lose things just because I am married to Cedric. I want to win things because I deserve them."

"Cousin, the world isn't fair." Henry said, shaking his head. "Why not just admit who you really are and take advantage of all the benefits. Who do you need to prove yourself to anyway? All our relatives are either in prison or spread across the world, hiding from your husband."

"Henry, I learned other things today." Adrianna said as she adjusted herself in her seat. "Beyond proving myself, I need to be able to stand on my own. That's the only time that I can stand next to my husband, my in-laws, and even my children in the future. Today a man talked down to me, first because he thought I was a mistress who refused to give way to the legal wife, after that he talked down at me for being less than a mistress in his eyes."

"Your point?" Henry asked his cousin.

"I need to be worthy of standing next to them. I refuse to embarrass the Reyes family." Adrianna insisted.

At R Tower, Cedric stood by his window looking out at the city. He was bothered by the fact that Adrianna chose to go straight to Island's Inc. and not up to him after the problem she had encountered at lunch.

Cedric heard someone enter his office, very few people would do so without knocking.

"Did you get him?" Cedric asked.

"Yes sir. Leon has him held up in the basement." Ian reported to his boss.

"Very well. Bring him up. I would like a word." Cedric said in a grim tone.

Ian left to execute Cedric's orders.

After a few minutes, Cedric was still looking out the window with his back turned to the door when he heard a man screaming along the hallway.

Cedric heard the door open as the man was thrown to the ground.

"What's going on? Why am I here? Who are you?" The man kept shouting.

"Mr. Quinto, did you know that it's bad for pregnant women to be sad or angry?" Cedric asked in the coldest and most serious tone he could.

"A- a- are you him? Are you the Reyes Heir? She said she wasn't your mistress, had I known I swear I wouldn't have been so harsh." Mr. Quinto said as his voice shook and cracked.

He could only see the silhouette of the man that spoke. No one had seen the Reyes Heir's face, so even if Cedric faced him he would have no idea who he was speaking to.

"People do call me by that title." Cedric said. "But Mr. Quinto, you hurt someone more important than a mistress."

"Sir?" Mr. Quinto said in a puzzled tone. Very few women held a higher position in a man's heart. His sisters and mother maybe, but the top most spot would always belong to his wife.

"You're lucky my wife doesn't want my help in things or else your whole company would go down in ashes tonight." Cedric said.

When Mr. Quinto realized that the wife the Reyes Heir was referring to was Adrianna, he was in shock.

"T- t- they said she was married to a good for nothing assistant who depended everything on her." Mr. Quinto immediately regretted his words after speaking them.

Cedric laughed. "Do I look like a good for nothing assistant to you?" Cedric said as he slowly turned to show his face.

"Mr. Reyes, I didn't know. Someone else was claiming to be your wife and she had sufficient evidence. We thought that Miss Ayanna, no sorry, Mrs. Reyes was someone else. Sir, please forgive me. This won't happen again." Mr. Quinto said as he began to beg for Cedric's forgiveness.

"Did the woman have a marriage certificate?" Cedric asked in a raised tone.

"No sir." Mr. Quinto answered quickly.

"The only proof that you can trust is that. What do I care for some blasted necklace." Cedric said as he crossed the room to get closer to the man. "You are fortunate that my wife doesn't like my meddling in her business."

"Sir, please. I'll do anything." Mr. Quinto continued to beg.

"This is what you will do. Continue to work with the pretender. Act as if you do not know who I am, but you are never to face my wife again." Cedric said. "Once she had thought of a way to deal with you or to prove that the other person is a fake you will support her if she has the evidence. Am I clear?"

Mr. Quinto vigorously nodded his head.

"I won't deal with your business yet. I will leave that to my wife. You better hope she is much much more forgiving than me." At that Cedric signaled to Leon to drag the businessman out of the room.

"Get Camilla." Cedric ordered Ian as he went back behind his desk.

Camilla and Ian returned, one with a cup of coffee and another with a stack of files.

Ian placed the coffee on Cedric's desk before finally excusing himself.

"Did she contact you?" Cedric asked as he sipped his coffee.

"Yes sir. She asked about the necklace." Camilla said with a nod.

"And you gave my wife all of the information she needs?" Cedric asked.

"I personally brought the files to Island's Inc. earlier." Camilla confirmed.

"Camilla, when you were there, did my wife seem different? Like odd or mad at me?" Cedric was hesitant to ask but he thought that since Camilla was a woman as well, she would have a better understanding of his wife.

"Sir, no. Well Mia did say something. She was oddly mad earlier. Like something more than the business deal was bothering her." Camilla explained.

"Buy me some flowers and tell Mia that I'll be personally picking my wife up at 5pm." Cedric said as he dismissed Camilla.