Never Judge

As Cedric returned to his seat the applause from the crowd ended, of course they would clap, he was their boss.

The guest's attention quickly returned to the stage as the host announced that Cedric had arranged for one of the hottest idol groups to perform.

"You did great, brother." Ayanna said as she smiled proudly at her older brother. "I'm sure they all felt reassured having you in their corner."

"We both know it's not just me Ayanna, it's the whole company." Cedric said with a nod as he glanced at Ian who was clearly waiting to speak with him.

"We should talk outside." Ian told Cedric with a serious look on his face.

"I'll be fine." Adri said as she placed a hand on Cedric's thigh. 

Cedric smiled at his wife, happy that she understood what he was worried about. Adrianna was three months pregnant and their trip to Singapore was quite exhausting for her. 

"Don't worry Ced." Ray said with a smile. "Alexi and I will watch over her."

Cedric nodded and left with Ian and Dave. He had left Mae to help Adrianna and Ayanna out if they needed anything and to call for them if they were needed. 

Ian led Cedric to the secret dining room behind the elevators which Cedric himself had set up for meetings and private affairs. 

Cedric walked in and sat at the head of the table as Dave served them some refreshments. He thanked his assistant and took a sip of the wine and smiled. He was quite parched from his speech and the beverage was a welcome treat. 

"So we got an update, the woman was not Camilla." Ian announced happily as Cedric sighed a breath of relief. He had been worried the whole time that Camilla and Benedict had been discovered and hurt.

"If it wasn't Camilla, then who was it?" Cedric asked, confused as to who could have offended Lucius Ting so much that she was dragged out of the bar.

"We don't know her name, but she is called Loiusse." Dave informed Cedric as he handed Cedric a photo of Louisse. 

"Hmmm. . . she looks familiar." Cedric said as he lifted the photo and looked at the woman. 

"From what we found, she is a freelance model." Dave informed Cedric. "According to what public documents are available, she comes from London and doesn't exactly have an agency representing her. It seems like she just takes whatever jobs she wants."

"What is a model like her doing in Lucius' party, as a matter of fact, what is she even doing in our country?" Cedric asked as he handed the photo back to Dave. 

"That's something we are still trying to figure out." Ian told Cedric.

"Ask Ram what he and his people know about this woman, maybe Francesca might know something about her." Cedric said as he thought of who else would have any information on her.

"We also asked Selina and Maureen." Dave informed Cedric. "They have both worked with international models, she could be one of them."

"Something about her is off, I can't point it out, but I just know something is wrong." Cedric said as he took another sip from his glass.

"Speaking of which, this is Selina." Ian said as he showed Cedric his phone. 

Cedric nodded at Ian and pointed at the table for Ian to place the phone.

Ian did as Cedric asked and answered the call, putting it on speaker mode.

"Hey Selina, that's for getting back to us so quickly." Ian told Selina over the phone. "You are on speaker mode, Cedric and Dave are here." Ian informed Selina. 

"Is Alexi there?" Selina asked nervously.

"No, Alexi is in the ballroom with his sister, my sister, and my wife." Cedric told her. "Why?" He asked, curious as to what would make Selina so worried.

"Well he will be furious if he found out the things I'm about to tell you." Selina said with a sigh over the call.

"Is it that bad?" Cedric asked.

"I guess, yeah. But, well let me tell you what I know so that you can understand why Alexi would be mad at me." Selina said in a worried tone.

"We won't tell him if you don't want us to." Cedric assured her. There were many ways for Cedric to omit who he had gotten the information from.

"No, I'll need to tell him eventually." Sleina said as she surrendered to the inevitable.

"Alright. So what do you know about this Louisse model person?" Cedric asked as he looked up at Dave and Ian who were ready to jot down any and all information Selina would be able to provide.

"Okay, so Louisse is quite notorious in our industry." Selina started. "But I had to confirm with Mau and Francesca if I had all the information before telling you. As you know there are a lot of rumors that go around."

"And have you confirmed that what you know is true?" Cedric asked Selina.

"Yes." Selina said in a definitive tone. 

"Tell us." Cedric urged his friend's girlfriend. 

"Louisse, as you probably know, is a London based model and she is gorgeous." Selina explained. "Designers would send her dresses and urge her to walk down their runways, but Louisse is no ordinary model, it seems that she doesn't need money."

"So her family is rich?" Dave asked.

"That's what we suspect." Selina confirmed. "We just don't know who exactly her family is or what they do."

"So no one knows?" Cedric asked.

"No one, even her favorite designer, has no idea." Selina explained. 

"So why would such a sought after designer be in our country, did you invite her?" Cedric asked Selina.

"No, it wasn't me." Selina told Cedric. "As a matter of fact I even asked Mau and Francesca if they had any idea who could have brought her over, they said no one could have, she doesn't exactly have a good reputation."

"What do you mean?" Cedric asked. 

"Well, there are rumors around her." Selina said hesitantly.

"You said you knew the facts." Cedric answered back.

"I do, and just because they are rumors doesn't mean I don't know that they are true." Selina said confidently over the phone.

"So what are the rumors?" Cedric asked. "Selina, I need to know everything about this woman, she could be a threat to a lot of things." Cedric added as he tried to convince Selina to speak up.

"Don't worry, I'm going to tell you." Selina said with a nervous laugh. "I'm just gathering my courage."

"And?" Cedric asked as he anticipated her answer.

If this woman was dangerous and in league with Lucius he would make sure to send her out of the country and make sure she didn't return.

What worried Cedric was that there were so many unknown factors when it came to this Louisse woman. Cedric didn't like being in the dark, he hated it. He liked knowing as much as possible about his enemies and here was another one he was blind to.

"Loiusse is a known sexual predator and she is a genius." Selina said in one swift statement. "I know this is true because I was a victim once."

When Cedric heard Selina's words he suddenly understood why she didn't want Alexi to find out.