Never Judge

Cedric simply nodded at Ram's words, now he understood the real reason for their parting ways. It wasn't that Ram fell for Francesca, it was because Julia had lied to him.

"You knew?" Ram asked as he looked at Cedric. "You don't seem as surprised as everyone else." He pointed out.

"That's why we called for this meeting, because that husband seems to be a person of interest to us all. Did she tell you his name?" Cedric asked.

"Aaron Ting." Ram hissed.

"Is he related to -?" Katerina began to ask as she looked at Cedric.

"No." Cedric said as he shook his head. "Aaron Ting was a fake name that her husband went by. His real name is much more interesting to us."

"What?" Ram asked. "Another lie from Julia Tiu."

"Ram." Veronica scolded.

"Sorry Adrianna. I know she's a good friend of yours, I just had a really bad experience with her." Ram said with a frown.

"It's fine." Adrianna told Ram as she shook her head. "She's changed so much since we were kids, I can barely recognize the person she's become."

"This whole issue with Julia's husband caused a rift between Adrianna and Julia." Cedric quickly explained.

He looked at his wife and waited for her to grant him permission to give his friends more details. When Adrianna nodded, he gave her a sad smile.

Cedric knew that despite their fight, it hurt Adrianna to say anything bad about Julia. It made him even angrier at Julia, because she had a friend that loved her and she chose to lie because of a man.

"Julia lied to Adrianna. She lied from the very beginning." Cedric revealed as he observed his friends' reaction.

The only person outside his family who didn't seem surprised was Ram. I looked like he had already expected this.

"You knew that she lied?" Cedric questioned Ram.

"No." Ram said as he shook his head. "But I wouldn't put it beneath her." 

"Back when they were younger, all she told Adrianna was that she had fallen in love with someone and that he had broken her heart." Cedric explained. "When in fact, she had been married to this person and even had a child with him."

"That's why they took her." Katerina said as she looked Cedric in the eyes. "Did she run from him?"

"She said she left him but the relationship was already crumbling at the time." Cedric said with a nod.

"It's possible that she lied." Katerina pointed out.

"It is, but right now that's all we have on this and we have to trust her." Cedric said. 

"You said she had a child with him, what happened to the child?" Veronica asked as she gave Cedric a concerned look.

Cedric looked at her and frowned. Of all the people that could have asked him that question it had to be Veronica.

"She gave the boy up for adoption." This time it was Adrianna that spoke up. "According to Julia, he reminded her too much of his father."

"She's too cruel, just because the boy looked like his father she sent him away." Miguel said as he shook his head in disapproval. 

"She eventually regretted it. She wanted to take him back." Cedric said with a sigh. "But, according to her father and the family that adopted the boy, the kid died."

"Why are you planning on helping her again?" Katerina asked as she looked at Adrianna. "Clearly there is something wrong with her."

"That's the thing, as much as I'd like to leave her hanging there are two reasons why I can't." Cedric said with a frown, earning him curious looks from his friends.

"Which are?" Alexi asked as they waited for Cedric's explanation.

"Please, let me tell you everything before you react. I need to tell you the whole story, agreed?" Cedric asked his friends who all nodded at him in response.

"Alright, Julia and her family gave away her son to a janitor at a local school." As Cedric gave the first bit of information he heard someone gasp.

"Dominic." Veronica whispered in a voice loud enough for them all to hear.

"The boy's name at birth was Dominic Chan." Cedric revealed.

"That's a joke right." Miguel asked as he laughed at Cedric. "This is some messed up prank that you and Ray planned. This isn't amusing Cedric."

"I'm not done." Cedric said as he looked Miguel in the eyes. "And no, it's not a joke. Her son's name at birth was Dominic Chan. Don't you think I've already wondered how interesting this coincidence is?"

"Interesting? You just find it interesting?" Miguel asked. "My son may or may not have living biological parents that willingly sent him away. Do you know how bad that will hurt him?"

"I do, Miguel, don't think I'm some idiot, you may be a genius but the people in this room are not dumb." Cedric hissed.

"Cedric, what else were you going to tell us?" Katerina asked as she drew the attention back.

Cedric closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He knew Miguel was reacting out of concern. He would probably have had the same reaction if it happened to him.

He needed to understand the situation his friend was in, and the next bomb that he was about to drop, he was sure it would get an even worse reaction from all of them.

"Wait, you said his last name was Chan. His original last name." Veronica said before Cedric could even speak up.

Cedric simply nodded in reply as he listened to what Veronica's conclusion could be. 

"Is there a chance that Dominic's father is a relative of Miguel?" Veronica asked as she glanced at her husband.

"To be honest, the Chan surname is quite common, but the next bit of information will make things a little more likely." Cedric said.

Veronica nodded as she let Cedric continue with what he was saying.

"At first it was quite difficult to get any information from Julia, she refused to tell us her son's name, she refused to admit that she was even married, but the hardest part was getting her husband's name." Cedric explained.

"Makes sense, even I didn't know his name and I asked her multiple times before we ended things." Ram informed his friends.

"And you didn't think to tell us this?" Miguel asked his brother-in-law.

"There wasn't a right time." Ram said with a shrug.

"Okay, I like Francesca ten thousand times better than Julia now." Miguel said as he raised his hands in the air.

"You liked Julia for Ram?" Eric asked as he gave his younger brother a confused look.

"I thought she would be good for him, and she was friends with Adrianna, I thought she was a good one." Miguel said as he explained his side.

"It doesn't matter, you guys." Nicole groaned. "It's his life, it's his choice, none of you have a say in it."

Cedric watched as Nicole glared at her brothers, clearly she was pulling from her personal experience. 

He watched as Ian, wrapped an arm around Nicole's waist and pulled her to him. It was as if he was trying to calm her down.

"Aaron Ting." Cedric suddenly said, catching everyone's attention.

"What did you just say?" Alexi asked Cedric as he looked his friend in the eyes.

Cedric smiled knowing he had gotten everyone's attention with the familiar last name. 

"Aaron Ting, that's the name of Julia's husband, at least that's the name that the Esteves family knows." Cedric informed them.

"What do you mean by that? And is he related to the Ting that's a thorn to our side?" Miguel asked as his hands clenched into fists.

"Aaron Ting isn't his real name, it's just a front. His real name though is a little bit more interesting." Cedric said with a grin. "Andrew Chan."

"That's a joke right. You have to be joking." Eric said as he glared at Cedric.

"Unfortunately not." Cedric told them as he shook his head.

"So Dominic might be Andrew's child?" Miguel asked Cedric.

"Yes, and this means two things. One, we need to find out as soon as possible if he is Andrew's child, two, we need to get Julia out of the grasps of the Esteves Group.." Cedric told everyone.

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