Never Judge

"So that was your plan." Adrianna said with a grin as she looked up at her husband.

They had just left the red carpet and entered the theater where the awards were going to be held. As the richest man in the country, Cedric and Adrianna were reserved seats in the front. 

"We need to throw him something to hang on to." Cedric said with a shrug as he helped his wife towards their seat.

As they walked over they were greeted by several businessmen and famous personalities, among them was Eric. 

He and Francesca were tonight's hosts, when the organizers of the Gizomo Awards heard that Cedric was coming along with his wife, they had to increase the star power of their event. They quickly added Francesca as a second host.

"Nice to see you again, Mr. and Mrs. Reyes." Eric greeted them formally as he shook their hands. 

Of course to the public Eric was just another actor, nowhere near Cedric's and Adrianna's status. 

Cedric smiled as Eric pretended to be some humble actor, who's career depended on  the favor of rich investors, such as the Reyes family.

"Just Cedric and Adrianna please, Eric." Cedric said, shaking his head. "Or have you forgotten that my wife is a fan."

Eric flashed a smile and nodded at the couple, Cedric knew he couldn't wait to tease them later when they were in a more private setting.

"Ah Francesca!" Adrianna greeted the woman, pulling her into a hug.

Unlike Eric, it was public knowledge that Francesca was dating Ram Abad, making Adrianna and her almost of equal stature. They had even been photographed hanging out together with the sisters in a cafe.

"Adrianna, Cedric, congratulations." Francesca said with a smile, of course, like the others, she had known ahead of the world that the couple was expecting their second child.

It wasn't exactly a secret Adrianna could hide from her friends, especially with the whole fiasco with Cedric disappearing.

"Ah yes, the baby news." Eric injected, sounding a little bit less interested in the pregnancy.

In truth Eric was one of the more excited friends, what he wasn't excited about was his girlfriend, Katerina, spending more time over at Mountain View Mansion helping Adrianna and the other girls out.

"Sir, I think you and the madam should take your seats." Dave said, suddenly appearing by Cedric's side.

"Don't worry, kid." Eric said with a smirk, acting all cocky as part of his actor persona. "The show won't start if Mr. Reyes isn't ready." Eric said with a nod.

"It's fine Eric." Cedric said. "Where are our seats?" Cedric asked Dave.

"This way sir." Dave said as he pointed towards the seats reserved for Cedric and Adrianna.

Cedric looked up and spotted a familiar figure glaring down at them, it was Lucius Ting, and Camilla was right. He looked even more like the Chan siblings in person, as a matter of fact he looked more like Miguel than Eric did.

"Is that him?" Eric whispered as he walked with Cedric and Adrianna to their seats.

Cedric simply nodded, not saying a word.

"He looks so much like my uncle Miguel and Miguel." Eric added as they finally made it to the reserved seats for Cedric and Adrianna.

"Well, good luck with hosting tonight." Cedric said as he shook Eric's hand.

"Thanks." Eric said with a smile as he vanished backstage.

"I saw him." Adrianna told her husband as she held his hand. 

Cedric turned to look at her and saw that she was frowning.

"Is something wrong?" Cedric asked his wife. "It's bad for you to be sad, especially now that you are pregnant again. I don't want our baby getting stressed."

"I was hoping that Lucius Ting wasn't Uncle Miguel's son." Adrianna said with a frown. "But when I was him, I don't think you can deny that he and Miguel are related, they look so much alike."

"Makes you think that Eric is the adopted one." Cedric teased with a laugh.

"Don't make jokes like that." Adrianna scolded her husband as the lights in the auditorium dimmed, signaling the start of the awards night.

As the guest of honor, Cedric had been invited to give a welcome speech, and he fully intended to use it to trigger Lucius Ting.

When Cedric was finally called up to the stage by Eric, Cedric gave the audience one of his rare smiles. It had all the women, and some men, swooning as he returned to his stoic expression. 

"It is an honor to be in front of so many great and promising minds." Cedric began his speech. He allowed his gaze to scan the crowd, letting it stop for a little as he looked at Lucius Ting, seated quite tensely. 

"I normally don't attend these kinds of events." Cedric explained, a fact that everyone knew. As a matter of fact a lot of the attendees had suddenly come because he had let it leak that he was attending the awards night and the after party.

"I am glad now that I have chosen to attend, with so many brilliant and promising minds in one room, it is truly an opportunity that should not be missed. " Cedric said, once again making eye contact with Lucius.

"Many of you have been through hell just to be here, some with backers, others relying on their  own skill to make it, and I commend all of you. Tonight is a night to celebrate all the brilliant minds in this room, ushering a better and brighter tomorrow for us all." Cedric praised, something to which the crowd began to clap and cheer. Some people even got up on their feet to clap.

Cedric signalled for them to calm down, he wasn't quite done with his speech just yet.

"I am grateful for all of you in this room." Cedric said with a sly smile, this part of his speech was directed at one person. "It is you that pushes my people at Mor Co. to work harder, to keep innovating, to stay ahead of the curve, and I promise each and every one of you that I will not make it easy."

His words made people gasp, it sounded more like a threat than a welcoming speech. At this point Cedric saw the worry in Eric's eyes, as the organizers began to signal him to cut Cedric's speech. But the actor stood firm, he knew Cedric, and this was definitely part of Cedric's plan.

"I believe that our industry is only as good as the company at the top, and I swear to all of you here, that Mor Co. will continue to drive our industry as a whole to become better." This part of Cedric's speech earned him several claps, something he had expected.

"With this I add another promise." Cedric said with a smile. "The Reyes Group will not be greedy with our resources, I invite very one in need of funding to come up to one of my assistants, Mr. Lazaro or Miss Shan, the Reyes Group will invest in any company that will work on improving our industry as a whole." 

Cedric's announcement shocked everyone present, he had just announced that he was willing to find everyone, including the competition. 

Cedric watched as people began to whisper, he noticed Lucius glaring at him from his seat. Cedric's lips curled up to a malicious smile as he ended his speech, thanking everyone and congratulating all the winners in advance.

As Cedric settled back into his chair Adrianna didn't say a word, which surprised Cedric. He expected his wife to at least question his decision, it was how their relationship worked, they always had open communication between them, but today things were suddenly off.

The awards were soon given out, most were handed to Mor Co. with Cedric going up and down the stage several times to receive the trophy from the organizers.

There were only a select few awards that were not won by his company, they were usually in categories that Mor Co. was ineligible to participate in, or in categories where Cedric admittedly confessed to be Mor Co.'s weak point. 

As a matter of fact Cedric was already there, eyeing which companies to absorb or which employees to pirate in order to strengthen his own. As he selected them, he would ask Dave to send the name to Camilla to get her opinion on them.

She approved most of Cedric's choices, except those that she knew had attitude problems or would cause them issues in the long run.

The final award to be handed out for the night was the best newcomer award, one that Cedric knew would go to Arch Group, Lucius' company.

As the winner was announced, many clapped, it seemed Lucius Ting had left a good impression on most of the attendees. 

It was customary for the winner of that award to give a little speech since it was their chance for bigger companies to get to know more about them. Many winners had been either bought by more capable companies, such as Mor Co. or they had found funding through the Gizmo Awards.

Arch Group was a different kind of company, it had a rich investor and it had no plans of allowing a big company to buy them out.

"Thank you, to all of you." Lucius said with his deep british accent. "It is an honor to be here, I know many of you are wondering why I set up my company here, when I had the opportunity to build it in richer, more powerful countries."

His speech was greeted by nods. Of course, Cedric knew exactly why Lucius Ting was here.

"I believe my birth parents were from here." Lucius explained. "And I plan to find them and honor their memory. Another reason is because a dear friend and my investor is from here, it is to him that I owe my success. Sadly he has passed on, but I will continue to honor his memory through the Arch group." 

With that the crowd burst into applause, Cedric had to admit, Lucius Ting knew how to get his audience to like him, much like his cousin who was now on stage, shaking his hand.

Cedric wanted to laugh at how Lucius did not know that he was shaking his relative's hand rather than some actor.

As the awards night ended, Cedric and Adrianna were led to a separate room where they could rest before the after party.

"Is there something you wanted to say?" Cedric asked his wife, he knew she was just holding her tongue earlier.

"Yes." Adrianna said with a nod. "Why would you offer money to people who want to pull Mor Co. down?" She asked her husband.

Cedric smiled at her question, he had a gut feeling she would ask about that.

"Simple, before they can get to me, there is someone they need to take down first." Cedric said as he sat next to her on the couch.

"Lucius Ting!" Adrianna said with a gasp. "You want them to distract him so much that he can't focus on you."