Never Judge

"No, he didn't." Benedict told Cedric as he shook his head.

"How sure are you?" Cedric asked as he questioned the siblings, making sure that they did their due diligence. There was nothing wrong about double checking.

"We bring a different phone whenever we go to Lucius." Camilla explained. "And the only call either of us received was from Mae asking what had happened."

"I was careful." Mae said. "I was worried that Camilla was around Lucius Ting so I made my statements and questions as vague as possible."

"All she did was ask if we had seen the latest news about Arch Group and to tell me that you wanted to speak with me as soon as I could." Camilla explained.

"It's a good thing you were on the safe side on that Mae, good job." Cedric said with a nod as he praised the young assistant. 

"Thanks." Mae said with a nod as she smiled. 

Cedric rarely praised his people, it was something he knew he lacked, but he didn't want them to stay stagnant. He wanted them to grow, that's why he was so stingy on praises, even words that are for free have costs.

"So how did Lucius manage to convince these suppliers?" Cedric asked. "Based on what I can see, we've always offered them the best projects and they have always been our top of mind suppliers. He must have promised the moon and the stars to get them." Cedric concluded.

"Actually, he got them fairly easily." Camilla said with a frown,

"How?" Cedric asked.

"He simply offered to pay them a little bit more." Camilla said with a shrug.

"Greedy bastards." Ray cursed from the side, earning him a deadly glare from his wife.

"That's it?" Cedric asked.

"Nope." Camilla said as she shook her head. "He also offered to pay for any legal repercussions that their move would bring. I'm sure Lucius Ting is aware that you will try to get every single centavo from them and he is more than happy to shoulder that cost."

Cedric remained silent as he pondered their options. Clearly Lucius had thought of his next steps as well, but the thing was, he still had several cards to play that Lucius was unaware of.

"Katerina, let's try to make as big a dent as possible into Lucius' pocket." Cedric said as he looked over to Katerina. "I want him not only to pay as much as he can, but I want the terms to be quick and swift."

"The less time he has to gather his funds, the better for us." Katerina said as she nodded. "I'll work on it as soon as I get home." She told Cedric as she typed the details down on her phone.

"Sorry Camilla, but you will need to go to the office today and give Katerina all the information we have on those two companies." Cedric explained. 

"I'll head on over after this." Camilla said with a nod. "We just need to pass by R Tower to get our bugged phones. I want to give Lucius the illusion that he has the upper hand."

"Good plan." Cedric said as he nodded in agreement.

Cedric took a deep breath and sighed. This couldn't be happening at a worse time. They now had enemies on multiple fronts, and to add to that they were still searching for the real Andrew Chan.

"What do you think led them to leave?" Cedric asked. "I don't understand why such a small increase in profits would convince them to jump ship and ally with Lucius."

"It's greed." Ayanna said from her seat as she shook her head. "They had been so focused on making money that they ignored the long and short term impacts of their actions."

" I wouldn't have made the deal if I were them, they still don't know if Lucius will be purchasing anything from the," Cedric told the group,

"I didn't see the details of the contract, but I'm assuming there could be a minimum purchase." Ayanna pointed out. 

"I doubt it." Ian said as he joined in on the conversation. "They were probably so impressed by the base price that they didn't check the details. Lucius Ting would never let them get more from him, especially with the legal costs."

Cedric nodded as he understood Ian's assumptions. 

"What do you plan on doing about the suppliers?" Camilla asked as she realized that the main impact of Lucius' actions still hadn't been resolved.

"Dad knows someone." Cedric said plainly. "I also asked a friend of mine to get us suppliers that can provide for what we need."

"Can this friend of yours be trusted?" Ray asked Cedric.

"Yes." Cedris simply said with a nod.

"What if both fail, Mor Co. and the Reyes Group will be stuck in a difficult situation." Ray explained.

"If they fail then we have a few months to find suppliers or increase the production rate of our other suppliers by investing in their equipment." Cedric told everyone in general.

"You boys seem to have it all covered at the moment." Emilio Reyes said with a smile as he got up. "I will leave you to it. This old man needs his rest." He said as he excused himself and left.

"Sometimes I forget that he was once the richest man in the country." Alexi said with a laugh as he pointed at the door Emilo Reyes had gone through.

"He was never the richest man to me, he was always just uncle Emilio." Katerina said with a soft smile as she thought of all the fun times they had when they were younger.

"Is there more you needed to report?" Cedric asked Camilla and Benedict.

"No, none." Camilla said as she shook her head.

"I think it would be best if you pretended that Cedric told you hurtful things. It should convince Lucius." Ram said with a smile as he thought of what simple acting Camilla and Benedict could pull off.

"We'll do that." Benedict said as he answered for both of them.

"If that's all, then I need to ask everyone to leave. I need to make a phone call." Cedric announced.