Never Judge

After dropping the call with his wife Cedric sighed at the new challenge that faced him. He knew he couldn't keep Emilio away from the public eye forever, things were very different compared to during his time. However, he didn't expect his son to be the content of gossip this early on, yes when Adrianna gave birth people questioned his son's parentage but that died down quickly since Adrianna had not been seen with the Reyes Heir in public.

A knock disrupted his thoughts, he called for whomever was on the other side to enter. 

"Sir, Mr. Abad said he and Eric are at Lights. They suggested that you go over since Mr. Chan showing his face in public right now would cause a commotion." Mae said, to which Cedric simply replied with a nod.

Cedric closed his eyes for a few moments as he thought of how he was going to deal with his son's training in the future. With the way things were going now, his son got everything he wanted and more. Cedric wanted to teach Emilio the values he had learned during his poverty training without subjecting his son to the same thing. It wouldn't work anyway since Cedric was sure that by the time Emilio turned fifteen everyone would recognize him. Technology was a pain in the ass sometimes.

Another knock came from the door, this time it was Dave.

"Sir, the Public Relations Department has already released a statement. They were wondering if you needed anything else?" Dave asked.

"No. I'll head over to Ram's, if I need anything I'll have them informed." Cedric told Dave.

"Anything else sir?" Dave asked.

"Have my driver ready the car. We're going to Lights. Either you or Mae can come along." Cedric said.

Dave nodded and left.

After a few minutes Cedric walked out of his office wearing his disguise.

"Let's go." Cedric told the assistants.

Dave picked up his things and quickly followed Cedric out of the office.

"What's being said on social media now?" Cedric asked Dave as the elevator quickly descended. 

"There are still a lot claiming that it was a cover up, but most of the people on social media are either claiming that Emilio is Alexi's love child, Katerian's son, or the new Reyes Heir. For some reason people don't want to drop the suspicion that Emilio is from the Reyes family." Dave reported.

Cedric nodded as they walked from the elevator and rode his car.

"Take us to Lights." Cedric told his driver who simply nodded and drove them out of the parking lot.

"Can I see the photo again?" Cedric asked.

Dave obliged and handed his phone over to Cedric. At first glance Cedric didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, but as he focused his attention on the background of the photo he suddenly realized why people were pushing the Reyes Heir angle.

To confirm his suspicions Cedric took out his own phone and began scanning a particular forum dedicated to rumors about the elites of the city. He didn't have to scroll far to find what he was looking for. When he spotted it, he let out a sigh, he didn't expect Dave and Mae to have everything covered just yet so he wasn't mad about this part being missed out.

"Take a close look at the background of the photo." Cedric said as he handed Dave his phone back.

"Oh." Dave suddenly said when he noticed the image.

"It's blurred, but you can clearly see Nicole and my mom from the reflection." Cedric pointed out.

"So they are pushing this angle based on a hunch?" Dave asked.

"Yes." Cedric said with a nod.

"Boss, I'm sorry." Dave said with a frown as he fidgeted next to Cedric.

"It's alright. You miss things that's normal." Cedric said. "But I don't want this happening again." He said in a stern voice. Dave was here to do more than work, he was here to learn so that he could become like Cedric in the future.

When Cedric's car pulled up to the driveway of Light's Entertainment there were already a lot of reporters waiting outside. They knew they would never get first scoop when it came to the artists of Lights Entertainment, but it didn't stop them from trying.

When they spotted the fancy Rolls Royce Ghost arriving they quickly tried to rush up to get an interview. They knew that the CEO of the Reyes Group favored this car and they had already memorized the plates. Unfortunately for the reporters Cedric's security team came prepared, they couldn't even get close enough to the car since several bodyguards had created a perimeter around the vehicle.

As Cedric watched the commotion outside, he couldn't help but sigh. He was dreading the day when everywhere he went all the eyes would be on him. Aside from the inconvenience it would also make him and his family a much easier target, this was another reason why he wanted to keep Emilio as far away from the public eye as possible. He wanted to protect his son from the people behind MT Summit.

"Sir." Dave called out, pulling Cedric back from his thoughts. 

Cedric nodded and got out of the car. When he arrived, Ram's assistant was already waiting for him at the office entrance.

"Cedric." Ram greeted as Cedric entered his office.

"Any help you can give me?" Cedric asked Ram as he took a seat.

"Well, honestly, it all depends on what Katerina says. Plus we're trying to handle all the rumors that Eric got Katerina pregnant." Ram said with a sigh. 

"It's not a problem." Eric said in a calm tone as he checked his phone. "It's not like it will impact my image. My fans know that I'm getting quite old so it's only natural that I want to have a family."

"Of course it's impacting you negatively. You just don't care." Ram said with a sigh. "Are you going to try to remove Emilio's face from the internet?" Ram asked Cedric. If they combined their resources, Cedric and Ram would probably be able to do it based on Ram's calculations.

"No, it's useless to do that." Cedric said with a sigh. "I knew this day would come. I can't hide my son from the public for too long."

"Sir." Dave suddenly said. "There is a new rumor going around."