Never Judge

Cedric sat back down in his seat after speaking to his father and grandfather.

Adrianna had quickly noticed that something was off with her husband.

"Ced, what's wrong?" Adrianna asked as she placed a hand on his arm, Cedric looked at her and frowned. 

"I don't want to talk about this now." Cedric said as he shook his head. "Plus I want the others to hear this too." Cedric gestured towards the stage where Nicole, Ian, Miguel, and Veronica were standing as a cake was wheeled out onto the stage.

"We can talk upstairs in my room." Eric said after overhearing what Cedric had told his wife.

"Doesn't it make you sad?" Selina suddenly asked Eric.

"Doesn't what make me sad?" Eric asked as he tilted his head, he wasn't sure what Selina meant by her question.

"Not being up there, with all of them." Selina explained as she lowered her voice, making sure that no one else heard them. 

"Honestly, it doesn't." Eric said with a shrug as he grandfather blew out the candles on the stage. "Up there, they have to be fake. They have to pretend that everything is perfect, when it clearly is far from that."

"The family has issues?" Selina asked as she looked at Alexi.

"They don't all get along." Alexi said with a shrug.

"The conflict is made worse by the fact that I refuse to accept what they keep calling my birthright." Eric said with a sigh as he looked at his relatives on the stage. "I'll tell you more later." Eric said with a patient smile as the members of the Chan family descended from the stage.

"Let's go?" Cedric asked as he looked at Eric. 

Eric nodded and got up, followed by the others.

With their group moving somewhere else, they drew the attention of the guests, who quickly turned their heads to watch where Cedric and his friends were heading.

"The others have noticed us." Eric told Cedric in a hushed tone. "They will follow."

Cedric looked back and spotted the siblings excusing themselves and following their group. 

When they entered the house, the attention of the guests returned to chatting amongst themselves.

"Wanna bet they are gossiping about us?" Ram asked with a laugh as he held Francesca's hand who stood next to him.

"They always gossip about us, what's new?" Karerina asked as she rolled her eyes. 

"Now, now, calm down Katerina." Eric said with a laugh as he reached out to hold her hand.

Katerina quickly took a step away from Eric, making him frown at her reaction.

"Don't give me that look." Katerina grumbled as she glared at Eric. "There are too many people."

"I don't really care at this point." Eric said with a shrug. 

"Eric, I am not having this discussion with you now." Katerina said as she crossed her arms on her chest. 

"Okay you guys, let's not fight about this down here." Miguel said as he, Nicole, Ian, and Veronica joined them inside the Chan mansion.

Eric simply nodded and marched up the grand staircase that led to the rooms on the second and third floors.

Eric's room was the largest among the siblings, he rarely stayed at the old Chan mansion, but his room remained untouched. They had expected him to be the future head of the Chan family so he was given the largest room after the master bedroom.

When they had all entered the room, Eric took a quick look along the hall, making sure that none of their nosy relatives had followed them up.

Unlike the Reyes and Laurence families, most members of the Chan family lived in the old mansion. There was enough space to house the many cousins and aunts and uncles, but the top floor was always reserved for the current head, Raphael Chan.

"No one could have followed us." Nicole grumbled as she sat next to Adrianna. "Those guards are personally chosen by Miguel, we know how untrustworthy our relatives can be. We would never allow someone else on this floor."

"Is the family conflict that bad?" Francesca asked as she looked at the Chan siblings.

"Honestly, it would be much less if I came back." Eric said with a frown as Katerina walked up to him and hugged him from behind.

"Eric, you don't have to come back." Miguel told his brother. "There is no need, we have a stable hold on the family because of you and Prince Group."

"But Lucius is a different threat, he is dangerous." Eric said with a frown. 

"The Chan family has always had internal conflict, I mean, that's why you guys have all these rules that need to be met when it comes to inheritance." Cedric told the siblings, shaking his head. "I mean this is not a family it's a corporation."

"I so badly want to change that." Nicole said in an angry tone. "I don't want my children growing up in this kind of environment."

"Nic, calm down." Ian said as he massaged her shoulders. "You're pregnant, being moody is bad for you and our child."

Nicole suddenly glared at Ian as if he had let out a secret.

The girls were all silent at first, but when they realized what Ian had said they all went up to her and hugged her.

"Why aren't you shocked?" Nicole asked Ayanna, who remained seated and was just smiling at her.

"I work with your hubby." Ayanna said with a laugh. "He told us yesterday."

"I wanted to tell them." Nicole said with a frown as she looked up at Ian.

"Things came up, I had to tell them." Ian said with a shrug.

"Speaking of things, there is something I wanted to tell you guys." Cedric said as his demeanor turned serious.

"What is it?" Miguel asked as he found himself a seat. 

"I think our parents knew about Uncle Miguel's child being a boy." Cedric told them.

"Of course they knew." Eric said with a laugh. "Didn't you tell them?" 

"No, I never told them about the message, I only told the Chans later on." Cedric said, shaking his head. "And earlier, when my father and grandfather spoke to me, they wanted me to drop the issue. They said the child was dead and my father referred to the child as a him." 

"So uncle Emilio doesn't think that Lucius is uncle Miguel's son?" Nicole asked.

"I don't think dad or any of our parents think Lucius Ting is his son." Cedric said with a frown. "They seem to know what happened to the real child, and I think they might be telling the truth that the boy died."

"Do you think they had a hand in his death?" Eric asked.

"No, but I think someone they are protecting could have caused the boy's death." Cedric said as he scratched his chin, thinking of what could be the truth.

"Did you ask your dad?" Miguel asked Cedric.

"I did, kind of." Cedric said hesitantly.

"You didn't, did you." Ayanna told her brother with a raised eyebrow.

"It was a heated discussion, he was busy telling me to stop investigating the matter and stop dipping my fingers into Chan family business, what was I supposed to do, just ask him?" Cedric said with a shrug.

"So you let that old temper of yours overpower your logic?" Ray asked with a raised eyebrow and a knowing grin.

"Cedric has a temper?" Francesca asked as she pointed at Cedric. "But he's always so calm and focused."

"Oh yeah, he has a temper, and he is incredibly petty." Adrianna said, answering for everyone as she laughed at her now embarrassed husband.

"Okay, can we move on from my temper, I've been working on it, I haven't lost my temper in years." Cedric said, rolling his eyes at his wife and friends. 

"Fine, fine." Ayanna said as she continued to laugh at Cedric.

"I will really lose my temper if you can't take this situation seriously Ayanna." Cedric warned as he gave his sister an angry look.

"Alright, calm down brother." Ayanna said as she leaned back on her seat. Ayanna was very much like her brother despite her attempts to deny it, she too had a temper.

Ray quickly reached for her hand and calmed her down, he knew that if she got into an argument with Cedric their discussion would take all night.

The Reyes siblings loved each other fiercely and respected each other, but they also hated to lose. They were incredibly competitive and hated being wrong.

"You need to ask your dad about the child, about what they know." Eric said with a nod, making sure that siblings wouldn't argue anymore.

"I can try talking to him about it at home. We could visit the old house tonight." Cedric suggested. "You guys should talk to your dads too, I have a feeling this involves all of them."

"They will just use the same lie if they do lie." Ram said with a frown.

"I have an idea." Alexi suddenly said. "What if we spoke to all of the dads at the same time, that way Uncle Emilio can't warn our parents about the question."

"How do we meet up with them all together without them knowing?" Veronica asked the boys. "It's hard enough getting a meeting with my dad, he still runs Abad News Network, in case you guys have forgotten."

"Yeah, dad still works at Saints everyday too." Nicole added.

"Plus, I mean, it's not easy getting an appointment with the President of the country." Natalia added with a laugh.

"There is one day though that they are all together." Ray said with a grin. 

"Golf days." Ayanna suddenly said, surprising everyone. "Sorry, I got excited." Ayanna said with a laugh.

"That's tomorrow." Cedric said as he remembered what day it was.

"We'll each tell our dads that we want to have lunch with them at Nationalia, it shouldn't be tough booking the whole place." Alexi said with a shrug as he took out his phone.

"Make sure that people are cleared out after their tee off." Cedric reminded his friend. "If they notice something is off before they even start their round of golf they will leave." 

"Got it. So the reservation should be around eleven in the morning" Alexi said with a wink as he quickly dialed a number on his phone. "That's enough time for the staff to clear the whole place out."

"I hope they can give us answers." Nicole said with a frown. "This whole Lucius Ting incident has me worried. I don't like that man."

"You aren't the only one Nicole." Cedric said with a nod as they all set up plans to convince their dads to have lunch.

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