Never Judge

Meanwhile at the other end of the city, Cedric lounged around in his entertainment room as he watched a movie while waiting for Adrianna to get ready. 

He suddenly sat up as his phone began to ring. When he picked it up from the seat next to him, he groaned, it was Ian.

Cedric wondered why Ian would be calling him when they weren't due over for the next hour and thirty minutes.

"Yeah?" Cedric asked as he picked up the call and lowered the volume of his entertainment system.

"We have a slight problem." Ian said slowly, not wanting to make Cedric worry too much.

"I'm sure it's not a slight problem." Cedric said with a sigh as he got off the couch and walked out of the in house theater. "If it were a slight problem you wouldn't be calling me." 

"Okay, it's a major problem." Ian said in a defeated tone at the other end of the line.

"Well, spit it out." Cedric told Ian as he continued to walk down the hallway to his home office.

"Some of the guests aren't here." Ian told Cedric.

"It's an hour before the invitation time, you don't need to panic." Cedric said as he rolled his eyes. "This is exactly what happened last time, remember, you got all worried about the guests not showing up when they were just running late."

"It's different this time, Cedric." Ian told his boss and friend over the phone. "This time they are meeting with their investor, the CEO of the Reyes Group, not some startup's president."

"Fine, alright, so do the logical thing first. Find out if they are on their way." Cedric told Ian.

"I already did, and they aren't." Ian said, breaking the bad news to Cedric.

"What? Why? How? You better have answers Ian." Cedric warned as he entered his office and sat down on his chair. "I'm sure you sent someone to at least figure things out before coming to me."

"I did." Ian said. "They are at a party organized by Arch Group."

"Hmmm. . .Arch Group, Lucius is being brave now." Cedric said as he thought of his next course of action. 

As he spoke to Ian on the phone he felt his phone buzz against his ear as a message entered. 

"Give me a moment." Cedric said as he took the phone from his ear and looked at the screen. He had a gut feel that the message was related to Ian's problems.

Camilla: Ced, I had to tell you this late so that Lucius wouldn't suspect a thing, he is planning on making your key investments disappear tonight. He invited them to a party, but I know you can figure out how to draw them back.

"Well, Camilla just told me that Lucius planned this. So how did you find out, Ian?" Cedric asked as he placed the phone on speaker and messaged Katerina and Ray through his laptop.

"I had someone look for them. I knew that if I found one I would find the others." Ian explained.

"Well, this is a big problem, and didn't Dave confirm that they were on the way?" Cedric asked, he rarely doubted his assistants but this was a slip up that should not have happened.

When no one answered his question Cedric found it odd.

"Hello? Ian? Are you still there?" Cedric asked over the phone

"He did, and they confirmed." Ian said after a pause on the call. "It's not the kid's fault Cedric, there is no way any of us could have stopped this from happening."

Something was off with Ian and Cedric knew it, but he chose not to dwell on the matter and continued to type on the laptop as he asked Katerina to come over.

"I'm meeting Katerina and Ray here in a few minutes." Cedric told Ian as soon as Katerina said she was leaving her house. "Make sure nothing else gets messed up there."

"We're on it." Ian said as he dropped the call.

Cedric quickly dialed Camilla's number and waited patiently for her to pick up.

"Couldn't you have told us earlier about what Lucius was planning?" Cedric asked his former assistant and now VP in an angry tone. He hated getting into situations where he was unprepared, and this was a huge one.

"If you had been ready with a solution he would have known." Camilla said. She wasn't afraid of getting into an argument with Cedric, she knew that what she had done was the right course of action.

"We would have sold it." Cedric said with a sigh as he leaned back on his seat.

"We both know that he has spies even at the hotel." Camilla reminded Cedric. "He needed to see you and your people in a panic, we both know that Dave and Ian are both horrible actors."

"They are not that bad Camilla." Cedric scolded. 

"Still, it's something I know you can easily fix. I'm not worried." Camilla said in a confident tone.

"Yes, while you sit prettily there, waiting to pass on Lucius' reaction." Cedric groaned. "Are you at the party?" He asked her.

"Benedict and I will go in a bit." Camilla explained. "We are important people to Lucius so we don't need to suck up to him, he needs us more than we need him. At least in his mind that's how it works."

"Be careful." Cedric warned. "This is perfect press for him to trust you, since it would reflect badly on me if my VP for Mor Co. was at his party rather than at mine. But be careful, we don't know what other tricks he could pull."

"We will, Ced. Trust me." Camilla said in a cheery tone. "So who are you getting help from?"

"Katerina and Ray." Cedric said, knowing full well that Camilla would know his plan when he mentioned who was coming over.

"That's smart, I didn't think of that combination." Camilla remarked. "Ian's idea?" She asked.

"Ian is busy at the party, but yes, the idea I have in mind sounds like something Ian would think of." Cedric said as he recalled his friend's schemes.

"His ideas are not the most graceful but they are way more efficient than mine." Camilla said.

"You both each have your strengths." Cedric said with a grin as he thought of how much help both had given him over the years. 

"I have to go, Benedict and I have to head on over to Lucius' party. I'll keep you posted." Camilla said.

"Alright, go." Cedric told her as he dropped the call and was left to his own thoughts. 

This party was clearly targeted by Lucius Ting to humiliate him. The man knew that Cedric had left the country and would probably be undermanned. So he made it a point to use something very public to take from Cedric.

"He is so stupid." Cedric said out loud with a laugh.

Lucius Ting was making his moves as if Cedric depended on outside support and on investors, when in fact most of the Reyes Group was owned within the family.

Lucius Ting might not have been as smart a Cedric thought.

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