Never Judge

Cedric was shocked at Max's words, by the way he spoke about the Chan family earlier, no one would think that the Chan's were the greatest thing to happen to their lives.

"I don't understand." Mae suddenly said in a shaky voice. Just like everyone else in Cedric's group she had come to love Cedric's friends and their families. In her eyes, the Chans could do no wrong.

"We knew that Mr. Reyes is a good friend of the Chan family." Max explained with a frown. "As a matter of face, when we met you, my mom wanted to send you away."

"Why didn't you?" Cedric asked as he leaned forward and listened intently to Max.

"You are Mr. Cedric Reyes, the CEO of the Reyes Group, you can control this whole country if you wanted to." Max said with a frown. "A simple farmer like myself has no power to make you leave if you didn't want to."

"I would have left if we weren't welcome." Cedric said with a frown as he realized how scared Max and his family had been with their visit.

"Mr. Reyes, if you were in my shoes you wouldn't be able to send someone like you away." Max said, shaking his head.

Cedric sighed and nodded. 

"I understand." He replied. 

"I don't think so, Mr. Reyes." Max said in a determined tone. "You grew up with people saying yes to everything you wanted. No one would dare refuse the son or Emilio Reyes III." 

Cedric frowned and massaged his temples. 

"Yes, no one would dare refuse my father's son." He said slowly. "But a lot of people would refuse Cedric. Contrary to what everyone believes, I did not live a sheltered life. Things were not just handed to me."

"With all due respect Mr. Reyes, I'm pretty sure you had an easy life." Max said with a laugh. 

"It seems you haven't been reading the news, Max." Dave said with a laugh, dispersing the tension. 

"Huh?" Max asked as he gave Dave a confused look.

"Mr. Reyes lived just like all of us for most of his life. He lived a life worse than mine or Mae's, he has gone through a lot just to get where he is. He had to prove himself to his family." Dave said as his admiration for Cedric became obvious through his short speech.

"Dave, no need." Cedric said, shaking his head.

"I didn't know." Max said with a frown as he looked down.

"It's alright Max." Cedric told the man in front of him. "So tell us, what made you think that the Chan family had your brother murdered?" 

"You see, Mr. Reyes, despite Mr. Miguel Chan, having asked my brother not to write back or visit his family, Fernando continued to do so." Max said with a frown. "He wrote back to us and one of the biggest news he told us was the fact that Mr. Miguel had a son."

"Yes, a boy that died." Cedric said with a nod.

"No, he didn't die. The child survived and my brother took him in until he could be sent somewhere else." Max said, shaking his head.

Cedric stared at Max in surprise. So their suspicion was right, Andrew Chan didn't die with his mom, he was sent to Fernando.

"Do you have proof of this?" Cedric asked Max. "If Andrew is alive then this could have huge implications to the Chan family."

"That's exactly why I thought they had him killed." Max explained to Cedric.

"What? Why?" Cedric asked as he was confused by Max's words.

"According to my brother, there were rumors going around that the older Miguel Chan was going to be named the next president of Saints Hospital." Max informed Cedric.

"So you thought, uncle Raphael had uncle Miguel's son killed?" Ian asked as he looked at Max in shock.

"Yes." Max said with a nod. 

"Andrew was a child at that time. He posed no threat to uncle Raphael." Cedric explained to Max.

"But he would hurt the chances of Raphael's sons inheriting." Max pointed out.

"That doesn't make sense." Ian said, shaking his head. "Uncle Raphael was the first born son, Eric is also older than Andrew. The Chans are a very traditional family, they follow age over ability."

"It was just the rumors my brother told me." Max said with a shrug.

"Is there any chance you have proof of this?" Cedric asked Max.

Max thought for a moment then nodded.

"I have all of his letters." Max told Cedric's group. "He sent those letters right before his supposed death. I saved them, I thought they might help in the future. In case his son came and found us and wanted to know what happened to his father."

"Can you get them for us?" Cedric asked.

"Yes. They are in my room." Max said with a nod as he got up and left.

"Thank you." Max's mother said as tears began to fall from her eyes.

"I'm sorry you had to find out about his death like this." Cedric said as he reached out and held the old lady's hand.

The old lady shook her head. Cedric remembered that she couldn't understand what he was saying, and without her son here she didn't know what he was saying.

Cedric was surprised when instead of crying some more she smiled and hugged Cedric.

"Thank you." She repeated again as she sobbed in Cedric's arms.

"Woah, are you cheating on Adrianna with an old lady?" A familiar voice said from behind.

Cedric turned to see Katerina standing behind him in a more casual outfit laughing.

"You're here early." Cedric said with a raised eyebrow as the old woman let go of him and sat back down.

"You said you needed me as soon as possible, I thought it was for a criminal case, I didn't think it would be for an annulment." Katerina teased as she placed her bag down and took a seat.

"Very funny, Katerina." Cedric said as he rolled his eyes at her sick joke.

"So who is the old lady?" Katerina mouthed as she shielded it from sight.

"She can't understand you, she's Fernando's mother." Cedric told Katerina.

"Oh." Katerina said in surprise as she looked at the old lady.

Cedric was caught by surprise when Katerina walked up to the old lady and began speaking in the local dialect. The woman began to cry again as she hugged Katerina.

"You speak their language?" Cedric asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Kind of mandatory when your family is in politics." Katerina said with a shrug.

"What did you tell her?" Ian asked as he leaned forward.

"I told her, thank you for raising a man that protected and cared for my friend." Katerina said with a smile as she looked at Mae who simply smiled back.