Never Judge

"What is it?" Cedric asked as he stood up and walked over to Veronica.

"This is impossible." Nicole said as she scrolled through her phone.

"Cedric, this has to have been arranged." Miguel said as he took Veronica's phone from her and handed it over to Cedric.

As Cedric took a look at the phone he was shocked. It was an expose on how Alexi Sebastian had been cheating on his fiance Jen Pelaez with Jen's ex and ex best friend Selina Ramirez.

The photos on the article were clearly taken recently, the first photo was one of Jen and Alexi making out in his car, another was of them in the hallway of Constellations Hotel. They were being intimate in both photos making it clear that they were a very physical couple.

The next set of photos were of Alexi and Selina, the first few seemed innocent, with Alexi helping Selina out by draping his coat over her shoulders. The next fer photos however began to become more and more telling of a cheating couple.

The first was a photo of Selina in Alexi's arms, Cedric was hoping that she had simply tripped and he had caught her. The next however was more difficult to explain, in this one Selina was pressed up against the wall and Alexi's head was buried in the nape of her neck, clearly he was kissing her.

"If you think the first two are bad, the others are worse." Ian warned as he held Nicole's phone in his hand.

"Tell Ram to suppress this first." Cedric said as he assumed a more leader like role in the situation.

Ian nodded, got up, and walked over to Ram's table. Cedric was sure that Ian and Ram knew exactly what to do. They had already done this many times for Cedric.

Cedric returned his attention to the article as he looked at the third picture, this one clearly showed Alexi with his hand on Selina's waist as they entered Alexi's room in Constellations Hotel. 

"How did they even get on that floor?" Cedric asked. The top floor where their suites were located had very limited access. 

"That's not the worst." Miguel said. "Check the rest." 

Cedric frowned as he did what Miguel asked. The next photos were images of Alexi and Selina in bed. They weren't being intimate but the photos of them naked and in bed said enough, it was clear that Alexi had slept with another woman that was not Jen.

"Sir, we found them." Dave said as he panted.

"They are in Alexi's suite." Cedric said in a grim tone.

"Yes sir, and for some reason the paparazzi had managed to get up to the private floor." Dave said, breaking the bad news. "Leon and his team have already sent them away, but we are certain that they will be waiting outside for the wedding guests."

"Arrange for the guests to leave through the basement, make sure there are arrows pointing towards the furthest exit so that they won't be hounded by paparazzi when their cars exit." Cedric quickly instructed. "Check on Alexi's and Selina's condition. If they are hurt physically come down and call for Miguel or Nicole."

"Yes sir." Dave said with a nod as he exited the ballroom once more.

"I'll tell the parents." Veronica said as she got up from her seat.

"V, you don't have to." Miguel said as he grabbed his wife by the wrist.

"No, you guys have other things to deal with, you have your own roles tonight. Let me help with this." Veronica insisted.

"Fine." Miguel said in surrender. In the three years they had been married he had come to understand that there were some things he couldn't change Veronica's mind on. 

"Miguel, you and Nicole stay here in case any medical assistance is needed." Cedric instructed. "Katerina, can you see if Eric and Francesca can distract the guests?"

Katerina nodded and went over to look for Eric. "And call Natalia and Adolfo over." Cedric called out.

"Adri, I need you and Emilio to go back home without me." Cedric said as he looked over to his wife. "I'm sure this place will be swarming with reporters in no time and I don't want to risk any slip ups from our end."

"Okay." Adrianna said with a nod. "Promise me you'll stay safe." 

"I will." Cedric told his wife. 

Adrianna nodded and lifted their son off his seat. Mia approached to help Adrianna with Emilio, Cedric noticed that Mia actually enjoyed helping Adrianna take care of Emilio so he didn't hire a separate nanny for the boy, instead he just added people to Mia's team.

Cedric made a mental note to begin hiring people to guard Emilio, since the boy would be starting school soon. His parents wanted him to just hire tutors for Emilio, but Cedric insisted that his son had to go to a normal school.

"Make sure they make it home safe." Cedric instructed Mia, who simply nodded in reply.

"I'll be a good boy for daddy." Emilio proudly declared without even looking at his father. 

Cedric couldn't help but smile, he was proud of his son for being such a smart kid.

"Cedric, you asked for us?" Natalia said as she approached with Adolfo.

"Natalia, I need to know what serums were taken from you. It's possible that one was used on Alexi." Cedric told Natalia. "He wouldn't sleep with Selina knowing what was at stake."

"Cedric, you don't need something as strong as my serums to get Selina and Alexi on the same bed." Natalia told Cedric. "What was taken from my lab are much more powerful than that."

"What do you mean?" Cedric asked, confused by Natalia's statement.

"Cedric, you just need eyes to notice the sexual tension between those two." Adolfo explained for Natalia. "Someone just needed a strong enough drug to drive their attraction over the edge." 

"So this isn't one of yours?" Cedric asked as he pitched the spaced between his eyes.

"Fortunately not. If it were, the results would be much worse. This was probably just a common aphrodisiac." Natalia explained.

"Well your parents will talk to the guests and inform them that there was an incident that needs their attention, meaning the wedding reception will be cut short." Veronica explained as she returned.

"I'm sure several guests have already seen the article." Cedric said as he eyed the guests as they talked among themselves. 

"Brother." Ayanna said as she walked up behind Cedric.

"Ayanna, I'm sorry, but we need to end the reception before the news gets any worse." Cedric said with a sigh.

"It's okay." Ayanna smiled. "I only had this big ceremony for the company. The one that mattered was the one we had a year ago."

"Why do things like these end up ruining our events though." Ray said with a laugh as he hugged Ayanna from behind.

"It's because you're bad luck." Ayanna said, rolling her eyes.

"Not possible, if I were bad luck then how did I end up being so lucky when it came to my wife." Ray said with a sly smile making Ayanna blush.

"Sir." Dave said as he suddenly arrived. "Mr. Alexi is fine, but something is wrong with Miss Selina." Dave was panting as he spoke, he had clearly tried to get to them as soon as possible

"Why didn't you just call us?" Cedric asked. "Nevermind. Miguel, Nicole, let's go." Cedric said as they marched out of the grand ballroom.

"Sir, we couldn't get through to any of your phones." Dave said as they walked to the elevator.