Never Judge

"No, not Alexi. Some punk from university. He liked to collect girls, so Jas thought she could use him." Ian said with a sigh. "They were on their first month of dating and Jas didn't want to put out. She refused to have sex with him, so one day, they were on a date, he brought her to his place and had his way with her. Since then she's had moments where she isn't herself."

"Ian, what she needs is professional help." Cedric advised his friend. 

"She did, I mean she's been talking to someone, but I'm the only person that knows what happened to her. Not even Damien knows why." Ian explained.

"So how did you, going over to her end up with Jas finding out about my plans?" Cedric asked. 

"I was at her apartment, she was supposed to be taking a bath when one of our informants called. I was giving instructions when she stepped out and heard everything." Ian confessed. "Jas won't tell anyone Cedric, she won't say that you're behind all of this. She's a good girl."

"Ian, she's his family, you know how far people will go for family." Cedric said, reminding Ian of his own struggle to the top.

"I will get her to understand." Ian promised.

"Ian, make sure there are no loose ends." Cedric warned. As he moved to the office table in the room to get some work done before his evening meeting.

"Cedric, I promise, this won't leak." Ian said.

"It better not." Cedric said in a cold tone he normally didn't use when speaking to Ian. "We are only weeks away from finishing this. I don't want it to fail because your ex-girlfriend is still in love with you."

Ian nodded and left as he dialed a number, Cedric assumed that Ian was calling Jas to keep her quiet.

Cedric was glad to be working away from the office today. He didn't have any meetings scheduled since he was away from R Tower, it allowed him to focus on studying the future investments of the Reyes Group that he was working on.

His plan was to expand further into different markets and call home some of his cousins that were managing satellite branches. He would only leave a member of the Reyes Family in major hubs across the world. Many had already complained about their desire to come home, they missed the country they grew up in.

By the time Cedric finished reviewing the potential expansion of the Reyes Group the sun was already low in the sky giving the world an orange and pink hue. Cedric took out his phone and dialed his wife's number.

"Hey Ced, you aren't busy?" Adrianna asked as she picked up his call. She always avoided disturbing him during work hours since she knew that as the new CEO of the Reyes Group there were many things that needed his attention. 

"I'm busy, but I'm never too busy for you." Cedric said sweetly.

"I love you." Adrianna said as she heard her husband's sweet words. 

"I love you too Adri. I'm at the Presidential Suite at Constellations and the sunset is magnificent, I suddenly wished that you were here with me." Cedric said as he continued to look out to the city's skyline. "Why don't we go on a trip when things settle down, just you, me, and Emilio." Cedric suggested.

"That would be nice." Adrianna said with a sigh over the phone.

"What's wrong?" Cedric asked.

"It's nothing. it 's just work." Cedric could tell that Adrianna was lying. 

"Adri, tell me. Please." He begged her sweetly. He knew better than to take 'It's nothing' as nothing, with women, nothing was always something.

"It's just you always promise alone time for us and our family, but things always come up at work, Cedric. I've learned not to keep my hopes up. I guess it's the trade off, back when you were just Cedric we could have all the time we wanted, we could go anywhere as long as our budget allowed, but now, you aren't just my husband. You're also the head of the richest family in the country. You run the largest conglomerate and you have a lot of other people depending on you. We have all the money we could want, but our time together has become so much less." Adrianna confessed.

"Adrianna, this time I promise. Our little family will go out on an ordinary trip. Nothing fancy like Kashmere, maybe go to a public beach, relax and mingle with ordinary people." Cedric promised.

"Alright Cedric, I believe that you will try. I'm not mad or anything, it's just difficult to get your hopes up." Adrianna explained.

"It's okay Adri, I understand." Cedric said tenderly. "I'll see you later at home. I love you." Cedric said.

"I love you too, bye." Adrianna said, dropping the call. 

Cedric was still looking out the window when Ian returned.

"You spoke to her?" Cedric asked indifferently. To Cedric, Ian needed to understand how important their situation was.

"I did. She said she would trust me for the next two months, but that's all she is giving me, two months." Ian explained.

"Luckily my plan will be over by then and she will understand that she has another cousin to think about." Cedric said with a nod.

"Your sister called, she said she would join the meeting later." Ian said nervously. He knew Ayanna did that in order to avoid telling her brother directly.

"It's alright." Cedric responded calmly. "Why would she think that I would be mad about that?" Cedric said with a laugh, he too knew that Ayanna only coursed things through Ian when she was afraid of the outcome.

When Ian got the call that everyone, including Ayanna had arrived at the private room he immediately informed Cedric.

Cedric took his time in making sure he was presentable after a long day reviewing documents and files. When he was ready he stepped out followed by Ian and two new bodyguards who had arrived to escort him to dinner.