Never Judge

Cedric closed his eyes as his car left the basement parking of R Tower, he had an extremely tiring morning, cramming all of his meetings for the day into three hours.

"Do you think they will actually come clean this time?" Ayanna asked as she looked out the window. 

She had decided to ride with Cedric since they were going to the same place anyway and Ray would be there as well. Like Cedric she had cleared out her calendar to accommodate their plans.

"I hope they will." Cedric said with a sigh as he kept his eyes closed. On top of all the issues they were facing with Lucius Ting and the threat he posed, the Reyes Group was also nearing a crucial point in his plans.

Cedric had begun to invest in many industries that he believed would grow over the next few years, he had chosen key companies to purchase or buy interests in. Within the months all the deals were supposed to be closed.

On top of just pouring money into the companies, Cedric had also placed some key individuals to ensure that their companies did not miss the boom of their industries.

He was under a lot of stress and a lot of pressure since these investments would define his reign as the CEO of the Reyes Group. 

"Dad said no more lies, remember?" Ayanna asked with a sad tone.

"Ayanna, I know you are hoping that dad and our uncles would keep that promise, but I know that they have secrets that are still best kept hidden." Cedric said, shaking his head.

"Why would they lie about Uncle Miguel's son though?" Ayanna asked. "There is no reason for them to hide that person, especially now that someone who could be pretending to be that man is actually a bigger threat."

"Ayanna, they have their reasons, they always have their reasons." Cedric said with a sigh as he pinched the space between his eyes. "We might not always agree with those reasons, but we cannot deny that they are valid."

"I just hate lying, I hate it so much." Ayanna complained. "We've all worked hard to do as they wanted, to be the people they expected, they should trust us more. We aren't clueless children."

Cedric laughed as he heard his sister's comment, she wasn't wrong.

"Ayanna, we both know that you are far from clueless." Cedric said with a smile as he turned and looked at his sister. "You are one of the best business people in the country, you put even your husband Ray to shame. I'm just sad that more people can't see that."

"I'm a woman, this world isn't my place." Ayanna said with frown as she turned away from Cedric.

"And I think that's wrong." Cedric said, shaking his head. "You, Adrianna, Nicole, Camilla, Selina, and so many other women who are in the business world deserved to be recognized for your efforts too."

"Cedric, we can't change society just like that." Ayanna said with a sigh as she turned back to face Cedric. "At least I have it better than mom or even our cousin Marie. Now people actually acknowledge I do something, they used to think mom just signed things while dad did the work."

"It's wrong for them to think that way." Cedric said, shaking his head. "I'll try to give you girls more opportunities from now on, I don't like you guys hiding in the shadows so much."

"Ced, it doesn't do us any good to have too much exposure to the public." Ayanna said with a frown. "People think we are attention whores when that happens."

"We will change things Ayanna, I promise, we will." Cedric said as he looked into his sister's eyes with a new found passion.

Ayanna simply smiled and nodded at him, she was clearly not convinced by his words.

The rest of the drive was silent as Ayanna and Cedric did some work on the phones and laptops. 

When they finally arrived at Nationalia, the place was practically empty. It seemed that the management had successfully done what Alexi had asked from them.

"I've never seen this place so empty." Ayanna said as she got out of the car.

"Well darling, it's what money and power can do." Ray said as he suddenly appeared in front of Ayanna.

Cedric smiled as he watched his best friend take his sister away. He was glad that they had each other, at least his sister was with a man that appreciated and cherished her.

"They are almost done." Alexi said as Cedric entered the lobby of Nationalia's Club House.

"Are we sure about this?" Eric asked as he looked at the others. "You guys know that this will rattle our dads."

"We need to find out the truth, Eric." Nicole told her older brother in a stern tone. "You felt it too, you felt that dad was keeping something from us, he was way too calm about this. He should have been in a panic when Lucius arrived but he was calm."

"I know, Nicole, I felt it too." Eric said with a sigh. "What I meant was, are we sure this is how we want to pressure them to tell us?" Eric asked.

"Well it's kind of too late for you guys to doubt our methods." Miguel said with a shrug as he stood from his seat.

"Why? We have time." Eric said as he looked at the clock.

"No we don't." Miguel insisted. "If they come back here and find this place empty they will know something is up and they will bury their secrets even deeper, making it impossible for us to find out the truth."

"So it's now or never?" Ram asked.

"Yup." Cedric said with a nod. "Why don't we go and wait for them where they will actually see us?" Cedric said as he led the group towards the dining area that overlooked the final green of the golf course. 

They didn't have to wait long, within ten minutes, they saw their fathers finishing their round of golf, happily chatting as they returned to the dining area.