Never Judge

When Cedric and his group got back to the hotel, they immediately headed up to the presidential suite where their wives and girlfriends were waiting.

"Katerina, this is so unfair, my brother let you go with them while I had to wait here anxiously for you guys to get back." Nicole cried as she hugged her friend.

"Calm down, Nicole." Katerina groaned. "I stayed in the car. Eric didn't want me getting into trouble or blowing their cover. In all honesty there was a higher chance of someone recognizing him than me." 

"So did you get to talk to him?" Nicole asked as she looked at her brothers and boyfriend with a serious expression.

"No." Miguel said with a sigh as they walked into the room and found their own spots to relax. 

"He didn't show up." Cedric said as he placed the coffee and pastries he had bought on the table. "I have food for you guys." He said with a smile.

"You can't bribe us with food, Cedric." Veronica told him as she walked up and got a cup of coffee for herself and a croissant. 

"Anyway," Cedric said as he continued his retelling of events. "I've asked Mae to look for him, check out his house, see what happened."

"Do you think he realized that we wanted to speak to him so he ran?" Nicole asked as she looked up from her spot on the couch.

"I doubt it babe." Ian said as he wrapped an arm around her waist and rested his head on her shoulder. "There was no time for him to suspect. Mae didn't change any of her habits and she continued to hang out with him."

"Then maybe someone alerted him from back home." Adrianna said as she thought of their situation. 

"Impossible." Miguel said, shaking his head. "No one knew that we were looking for the nurse, let alone the fact that we had already found him."

"All we can do now is to wait for Mae to get back to us with news." Cedric said as he took a bite out of a cupcake he had bought.

"How long will it take Mae to check on the nurse?" Eric asked Ian who was skimming through Mae's notes.

"It should take her an hour max." Ian told Eric as he took a look at the address that Mae had jotted down on her notes. "I swear I don't understand why Mae had to write everything down by hand, she could have just typed it down." Ian complained.

"It's one of her skills." Cedric said with a laugh. 

"I know, but it's just really annoying." Ian told Cedric as he rolled his eyes.

"Why?" Nicole asked with a curious expression. "What's with Mae and writing things down?"

"Once Mae writes something down she doesn't forget it." Ian explained to his girlfriend. "That's why her notes are all written down instead of typed."

"Everyone knows that you remember things better when you write it, that's nothing special." Miguel said, rolling his eyes.

"Not at the rate that Mae does it." Cedric said with a laugh. "She remembers everything right down to the period after writing it just once. She gave Ian the notes because she doesn't need them. Everything she's ever jotted down is etched into her memory."

"That's a pretty handy skill." Eric said as he scratched his chin.

"Of course, it's nothing compared to my photographic one." Miguel said as he rolled his eyes.

"You're just jealous that your older brother is praising someone's memory other than yours." Veronica teased her husband. 

"Every skill and talent becomes useless if you don't know how to use it to its full potential." Miguel commented with a serious expression on his face.

Cedric raised an eyebrow at Miguel, it seemed that his words had a different message to them.

"Miguel is right." Ian said, agreeing with the young doctor. "Mae was in the same situation. She had a talent that she could use for school or to impress people, but that was it. At least until she started taking board exams and bar exams for people." Ian said with a shrug.

"That's illegal." Katerina pointed out.

"Don't play naive, Katerina." Cedric said with a smile. "We all know that a lot of people in the government are corrupt, just pay them enough and they will allow someone else to take your exam for you. It's that simple."

"So that's what Mae used to do before you discovered her?" Katerina asked.

"For a time, yes." Cedric said.

"But what use is her talent to you Cedric?" Miguel asked his friend. 

"On its own, not much." Cedric said with a laugh. "But Mae is quite an interesting person. She is also extremely good at analyzing pieces of information and patching them together to come up with conclusions and strategies that people normally don't see."

"You're teaching her to combine both skills." Katerina said as she scratched her chin. "Interesting. With her memory and analytical skills she could see patterns from data that go way back without the need to open her notes or having to do too much additional research."

"As a matter of fact her skills have already been put to the test." Cedric said with a grin as he took a seat and leaned back, crossing his arms on his chest. "She and Dave worked quite closely with me when we were assessing which industries to enter and which companies to invest in. She had insights that even our best researchers missed, but only time will tell how much of an impact that made."

"I'm guessing Dave is some secret genius as well?" Eric asked with a raised eyebrow.

Ian suddenly laughed at Eric's comment. "No, Dave isn't some secret genius. He is smart, very smart, smarter than even me, probably." Ian said with a shrug.

"Well, Ian, we have to admit, the boy has genius moments." Cedric said with a laugh. "He's a business genius, I guess. But because of what happened to his brother he hasn't been able to properly develop himself. So being at the Reyes group is his chance."

"The kid will leave though." Miguel said with a frown. "He is his father's only son, the only male heir to his family's fortune, don't you think it's a waste? Training someone that could someday become a threat or a rival?" 

"No, not at all." Cedric said with a smile. "He will only be a threat or a rival if we do wrong by him, but if things turn out the way I hope it will, then I have trained a powerful ally."

"Do you really think his family business will grow to that big a size?" Eric asked Cedric. 

"With Dave at the helm, yes." Cedric said with a nod. "They might not be as large as us now, but as soon as Dave takes over, I see the Lazaro's fortune climbing. That's why I want to expand the Reyes Group  internationally as well. If we are all fighting over our tiny country we will all just end up fighting."

"Ced." Ian suddenly told Cedric as he walked over across the room. He handed his phone to Cedric with a frown for his former boss to read.

"How is that possible?" Cedric asked in a frustrated tone.

"Mae's on her way back. We can talk about it then." Ian said as he placed his phone back in his pocket.

"What is it?" Eric asked Cedric and Ian.

"Unfortunately, the nurse is dead." Cedric announced with a frown.