Never Judge

"Cedric, that is crazy." Camilla scolded over the video call. 

Everyone had been shocked at Ayanna announcing that Cedric would stake his own reputation just to get Lucius to trust Camilla and Benedict.

They had gone silent for a while as they tried to process what Ayanna had told them. Everyone had gotten confused at first, unsure of what to say or do. Ian had even gone as far as thinking that Cedric was only joking.

"Wait, you're serious?" Ian asked as he sat up.

"Of course I'm serious." Cedric said with a nod as he looked everyone in the eye. "This is to protect our long term interests. It shouldn't be taken lightly."

"Then do this as a last resort, brother." Ayanna told him. "This is crazy and stupid!"

"Cedric, we will do what we can first." Benedict told Cedric with a serious look on his face. "Maybe it doesn't have to go as far as this. Maybe he already trusts us. I mean the death of a loved one is a very big deal." 

Cedric paused and took a deep breath, everyone was clearly against his plan. It seemed that even if he managed to plant the evidence himself and turn himself in, they would do anything and everything to protect Cedric from his own plans.

"Cedric?" Ayanna asked as she tilted her head and looked at her brother, he had just gone silent and was deep in thought.

It was moments like these that Ayanna worried the most about her brother, when things didn't go Cedric's way but he knew his plan was right, he would just go and do it on his own.

"What?" Cedric asked Ayanna as he looked at his sister, she was clearly worried about him.

"This isn't going to be like the maid incident, right?" Ayanna asked her brother.

"Of course not." Cedric said, shaking his head. "I'm not a child anymore."

"It's the fact that you are an adult with too many resources that I am worried about." Ayanna said as she crossed her arms on her chest. "Think of your wife and children."

"There will not be a repeat of the maid incident." Cedric promised. 

When they were younger, Cedric had a bad feeling about Ayanna's nanny. He didn't like the way she was different when their parents were around and when they were alone. 

Cedric had tried to tell the adults, at first it was just the other maids, but they had no power to influence things.

So he went up to his grandparents, the Reyes elders all thought that Cedric was just acting up, that he was jealous the maid got to spend time with his sister, so they ignored him. 

Eventually, things reached the point where he was already telling their parents but they wouldn't listen. Cedric had told Ayanna about his plan to catch the maid on video, but to do that he had to take his father's camera and film the woman. 

Of course, as a child Ayanna didn't want to get into trouble, so she told Cedric not to do it. He was so adamant and he believed so much in his gut feel that he single handedly stole their father's camera and planted it in the maid's room.

When it came time to retrieve the camera, Cedric encountered an unexpected twist. As he reached for where he had hidden the camera, the maid entered with a man.

The man quickly covered Cedric's mouth as the maid fished out a piece of tape to keep him quiet. Unfortunately for the maid and her companion, Emilio Reyes III had noticed his son acting suspiciously, so when Cedric had not come back immediately he had sent people to go looking for the boy.

Just as the maid was placing the tape to silence Cedric, Emilio Reyes III and a few bodyguards entered the maid's room and walked into the horrific scene.

If his father had been any later Cedric would have been kidnapped and used as leverage.

When they had reviewed the tapes later on, they discovered that the maid had been plotting to kidnap Ayanna. She was making the Reyeses trust her so that she could take the little girl out of the compound to a park, where she and Ayanna would be kidnapped by her accomplices. 

Cedric had been scolded so much by his parents that night, but at the same time they were extremely thankful that the little boy had gone with his gut feel. 

The Reyeses were even quite proud of how he had managed to plant the camera in a spot the maid never touched. 

It was actually those events that had solidified the Reyes family's faith in naming Cedric as it's next head. At a young age he had shown so much potential, something that only grew.

Ayanna sighed and smiled at the memory, it was a painful one, because so many things could have gone wrong, and yet it was still something she would never want to change.

"How long will we have?" Benedict asked Cedric, he was confident that Cedric had changed his mind and was willing to give them time.

"Two weeks." Cedric said, holding out two fingers. "By that time you should know if we need to take extra steps to gain Lucius' trust. If you both don't have it by then we will need to release the news."

"And the workers? When will that plan come into play?" Camilla asked Cedric.

"I want that part of the plan to start as soon as possible." Cedric informed everyone. "Ian, can you get a mining company on the phone? That part of the property has received many offers, all of which I have turned down."

"I'll check the records and see who could still be interested in it." Ian said with a nod. "I'll also work on the precautionary measures in case we actually need to mine full scale." 

"I want to do something public to really trigger the people." Cedric said. "Something that Camilla can use to give to Lucious so he can create havoc on the company."

"I'm assuming you also want us to ask Ram to tone down his efforts in containing the matter?" Dave asked Cedric.

Cedric grinned at the assistant and nodded.

"You're starting to see the big picture." Cedric praised. "Yes, let's do that. I don't want it to be obvious that we want that news out."

"I'll tell him how to spread it in such a way that Ram can barely do anything." Camilla said with a nod.

"Isn't that dangerous?" Ayanna asked. "If our enemies know how to avoid Ram's control of the press we are making ourselves vulnerable." 

"Lucius would never share this information. He seems like the jealous type." Cedric said with a smile before finally ending their meeting.