Never Judge

The issue with Calathea Carpio was quickly dealt with by Cedric. He sent a warning to the Carpios, he was not as kind or as understanding as his father and he wouldn't hesitate to lessen their cooperation, should Calathea continue to threaten his wife or his friends. His threat was received and the Carpios didn't fight back. By that weekend Calathea flew back to Spain and began to behave, the rumors towards Katerina also quieted down.

Early on Saturday morning, Cedric was drinking his coffee in the ground floor study when Nicole suddenly came charging in. She was wearing casual clothes but she was all dolled up. Instead of getting scared of the furious woman Cedric burst out in laughter. 

"Don't laugh!" Nicole was not happy with Cedric dragging Ian to work on a Saturday. Both Nicole and Ian were very much career driven and as a result were workaholics. It was a fact Nicole was aware of when she got into a relationship with him, however she didn't expect that their Saturdays together would also be taken away.

"How can I not? You're dressed so casually and yet you're made up as if you were going on a runway." Cedric said as he tried to stop his laughter.

"Cedric Clarin Reyes! I hate you. My boyfriend and I only have our Saturdays and you took it away." Nicole said, crossing her arms and taking a seat.

"You're so loud I could hear you from the parking. Do you want to wake everyone in Mountain View?" Katerina said as she entered followed by an assistant. 

"Don't you have a case to deal with Katerina?" Nicole asked, rolling her eyes clearly irritated by her friend's sudden arrival.

"I do. The Reyes Group's, but I'm just here to do a quick consultation." Katerina said as she waved for the assistant to place the documents on Cedric's table then leave right after.

"To think I wanted you to be my sister in law! You're breaking my heart Katerina." Nicole said as she pretended to sooth her broken heart.

"Such a drama queen. And you're crazy to think I would want to be your sister in law. Isn't it enough that you have Veronica?" Katerina said as she rolled her eyes. "This will be quick. I'll follow you to the guest house. Now go, the adults need to talk." Katerina said, sending Nicole away.

"I'm not done complaining, Cedric Reyes. You better give Ian his Saturdays back or I swear!" Nicole said as she marched out of the study.

"What's with the tantrum?" Katerina asked as she opened a file.

"Ian has to work Saturdays. He'll be here in thirty minutes." Cedric quickly explained.

"Poor child. So serious in her first real relationship." Katerina said as she shook her head.

"Ian is her first boyfriend?" Cedric was surprised that Nicole had never had a boyfriend. The youngest Chan was very pretty and a lot of men had a crush on her, so Cedric didn't expect that Ian was her first.

"Yup. She's had a ton of almost relationships though." Katerina said with a giggle. "And she dated a lot."

"I'm pretty sure she won't reach your count." Cedric teased. Alexi had told him in the past how Katerina was as close to a female version of himself, dating and having casual relationships when it suited her.

"Alexi told you? I fall quickly, then I tire quickly." Katerina said, looking up from the file.

"Don't you find this awkward at all?" Most women in their society wouldn't want to talk about having dated other guys, let alone having slept with them.

"Nope. If you guys can do it, why can't I?" Katerina said, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Not afraid of society judging you?" Cedric asked.

"You aren't society, and there isn't anything that hasn't been said about me yet." Katerina shrugged. "I'm a woman in a man's world, doing a job people see more suited for men. If I'm nice, I am weak, too womanly. If I'm tough, I'm a bitch, I get painted as a villain. There is no in between for me, so why try to satisfy a world where I can't be happy."

Cedric was surprised at what Katerina had said. It was true that the world was harsher to them, and Katerina had a tougher battle than Adrianna or Ayanna in her industry. 

"Shall we move on?" Katerina asked, waving the documents.

Cedric nodded and leaned forward to listen.

"My team and I have looked through the files you sent. There is a potential case here, if you can get me people to file the case against I can win it with these, but I still need more." Katerina had placed her whole team on Cedric's case, studying every document and applying every possible charge to them.

"I'm working on getting into the syndicate in the Reyes Group. When I'm in I should be able to find you a list of people and more evidence." Cedric told Katerina.

"Remember Cedric, the higher up this runs, the harder it will be." Katerina warned Cedric.

"I'm just hoping it doesn't. I don't know where we went wrong. My family has studied how to avoid things like this.We distribute the earnings quite fairly, we give raises, bonuses, and we even help out when needed." Cedric said recounting the measures the Reyes Group took to avoid disloyal employees.

"Who knows, you might get lucky and find that this is just a ring of five employees." Katerina said with a shrug.

Cedric nodded and stood up to lead Katerina out. "I'll contact you when I know more. For now, go enjoy the rest of the day with the girls, you work too much."

"It's not like I have anything else to do." Katerina said with a shrug as she left the study.

After a few minutes Camilla and Ian arrived. Both of them came in ready to talk business with Cedric, the past week had been incredibly hectic at Mor Co.

"Ian, your girlfriend arrived here before you did and she gave me a massive headache. How can you stand her?" Cedric teased his assistant.

Ian was stunned and couldn't come up with a reply fast enough.

"Camilla, promise me when you finally decide that you can be in a relationship, he won't be anything like Nicole." Cedric said laughing.

"Don't worry sir. The bubbly kind isn't my type." Camilla said with a grin.

"She would gut you if she heard you call her the bubbly type." Ian said, finally managing to laugh.

"I don't think Miss Nicole would do something like that, probably Miss Katerina would be more likely." Camilla said laughing at Ian.

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