Never Judge

"What? Is this some sick joke?!" Eric asked angrily as Katerina placed a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to calm him down.

"Eric, we need to wait for Mae to get back." Cedric explained calmly. When she had read the news himself he had already expected the others to be angry and confused. "I am as confused as you are but I would like to hear the details."

"I'm sure there is a reasonable explanation for this, dear." Katerina told Eric as she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him.

"Mae is calling." Ian said as he handed Cedric his phone. 

"I'll take this call in the bedroom." Cedric said as he nodded at his friends and gestured to Ian to go with him. 

The reason why he didn't want to take the call in front of everyone was because of how the Chan siblings were reacting. They weren't as calm and collected as they normally were, and this worried Cedric.

"Mae?" Cedric asked as he answered the call and placed it on loud speaker. 

"Boss, I'm on the way back, but we have some issues." Mae said in a hesitant tone. 

Meanwhile, Ian pulled over two chairs for him and Cedric to sit on.

"Why? What happened? Are you safe?" Cedric asked, the concern evident in his tone.

"Yes sir. I'm safe, don't worry." Mae said in a confident tone. "It's just that when we arrived I called the police anonymously to alert him about the nurse's death."

"And?" Cedric asked slowly. 

"Apparently the old man had recently changed his emergency contact to me." Mae said in a sad tone.

"He didn't put any family members or anything?" Cedric asked, he was surprised that the old nurse had done that. He had hoped that the man's death would bring them some kind of information as to who his backer was, but now it was just another dead end.

"Unfortunately, no." Mae said. "And now the police want to interview me, to ask me where I was when he died."

"Do they suspect foul play?" Cedric asked his assistant.

"I'm not sure, I guess we'll find out about the cause of death after the autopsy or investigation." Mae informed Cedric.

"Cooperate with them fully." Cedric instructed the assistant. Unfortunately, unlike at home, the police in Singapore could not be bribed, so the only way they could get the information they wanted was for Mae to stay as the emergency contact.

"Cedric, that's where I'm encountering a problem." Mae said hesitantly.

"Why?" Cedric asked, there was no reason for Mae to be a suspect in the man's death. She had not purposely approached him, they simply met by chance. In terms of her alibi, she was nowhere near the man's apartment when he had died.

"Cedric, they will ask about my alibi, I will have to say I was with Adrianna and the other girls. People will know you are here." Mae said in a worried tone. She knew that Cedric wanted this trip to be as quiet as possible, but now they would be at the center of a police investigation.

"It's fine." Cedric said with a sigh. "There is really no way out of this for us."

"What will we tell them when they ask why you were the ones that planned to meet him for breakfast?" Mae asked as she tried to find loopholes in their story.

"Simple, you thought he could be a spy trying to get close to you for company secrets, so Ian and I decided to take a look." Cedric said.

"And the Chan siblings?" Ian asked.

"They aren't siblings, people don't know that, remember?" Cedric reminded his former assistant. 

"Oh right." Ian said with a nod.

"We will simply tell the police that they wanted to tag along to Singapore for some time away from work, people will buy into that." Cedric said.

"Sounds believable to me." Ian said with a nod as he tried to think of any other questions the police may ask them.

"We just need to tell them most of the truth." Cedric told both assistants. "We had nothing to do with the man's death. We shouldn't be afraid."

"Yes boss." Mae said in a sad tone.

"I know he became your friend Mae, I understand if you are sad about his death." Cedric told her over the phone.

"Thank you, Cedric." Mae said. "The police will probably arrive a few minutes after me. They just texted asking where they can find me to ask a few questions." 

"Alright. Tell them to go to the presidential suite, I'll order some food and coffee for them as well." Cedric told Mae. 

"Thanks boss." Mae said as they dropped the call.

"I guess we need to tell the others." Ian told Cedric as he looked at his former boss.

Cedric placed his head in his hands and took deep breaths. He couldn't believe that after all their hard work, the nurse simply dropped dead the moment they landed in Singapore. It was truly frustrating. 

Ian understood what Cedric was going through and gave him a minute to gather himself.

When Cedric had finally recovered and had control of his emotions, he lifted his head and gave Ian a smirk. 

"Thanks." Cedric told his friend.

"I've worked with you and for you. If I didn't know what you needed now I would be a failure." Ian said with a laugh. 

"I'm glad you came along, at least it isn't just me and Mae working on this." Cedric told Ian as he got up and walked to the door.

Ian followed his lead and stood up as well.

"I'm practically a Chan now." Ian said with a shrug. "I have vested interest in this, I won't lie. My son's future depends on this too."

"I hope Miguel and Eric can keep calm when we do get the details. Something is off with them today." Cedric confessed his observations to his friend.

"They've been arguing over Eric's decision to stake his claim as head of the family. Miguel doesn't want his brother to give everything up, while Eric wants to do his duty to his family." Ian explained.

"I hope they settle it soon." Cedric said with a sigh. "Let's go and give them an update then." Cedric said as he opened the door and walked into the other room.