Never Judge

Cedric rolled his seat and grinned at Alexi who was clearly furious at the sight of Cedric casually sitting among the assistants.

"No sir. Mr. Reyes called in sick today." Ian said with a shrug, he could already sense Alexi staring at Cedric who was behind him.

​​

Cedric stood up and walked to stand behind Ian.

"Mr. Sebastian, you can leave a message with me and I\'ll pass it on." Cedric offered with a smirk.

Cedric could see the worried faces on Dave and Mae, he knew they were worried that he was taunting the President\'s son. 

"Tell him to meet me in my office." Alexi said before storming off.

"Mr. Cedric, aren\'t you worried that he will go after you?" Dave asked clearly referring to Alexi.

"Don\'t worry. He knows I\'m just the messenger." Cedric said with a shrug.

"Let\'s go." Cedric told Ian as he packed up his things. Ian nodded and did the same. 

Cedric and Ian went straight for the basement and rode Cedric\'s car, since he was in his casual clothes Cedric was forced to change at the back. 

His car eventually drove up to a drab government building with people rushing in and out. His luxury car stood out as it pulled up to the entrance, he was followed by a security van from which several bodyguards alighted as they secured the perimeter.

Ian was the first to go down as he fixed his suit and opened the backdoor for Cedric. Cedric who had rarely made an appearance as the Reyes Heir in public, was well dressed in black suit with his face mostly covered. 

"I wonder what he wants." Cedric told Ian as they walked up the building steps.

They were quickly greeted by several business officials who bowed deeply.

"Mr. Reyes, to what do we owe this pleasure?" The official asked.

"Congressman Alexander Sebastian invited Mr. Reyes over." Ian said, answering for Cedric.

"Ah the congressman and and Mr. Reyes are friends, if I am not mistaken." The official said with a nod.

"Will you take us to his office or do we have to wait?" Cedric asked impatiently, making the official nervous.

"Of course not sir. This way." The official said as he quickly led Cedric inside and up a flight of stairs to where most of the congressmen\'s offices were. 

Alexi\'s office was at the end of the hall, as the President\'s son he was given special treatment by some members who wanted to suck up. Alexi was never one to conform to pressures or bribes so he just let them do as they wanted while doing what Alexi thought was right. He had caused quite an issue politically when he refused to back a bill being passed that the majority party wanted, he chose to support the minority instead who were their rivals. 

"Mr. Reyes." Alexi\'s assistant immediately greeted as she saw Cedric and Ian approaching. "Congressman Alexander is expecting you." The assistant said as she led Cedric into Alexi\'s office.

"You came." Alexi said as he leaned back on his seat.

"Why wouldn\'t I?" Cedric asked as he took off his mask as the door closed behind him.

"You met with Capt. Damien?" Alexi asked, of course he already knew the answer to the question he had thrown.

"Just ask what you want to ask." Cedric said as he made himself comfortable on Alexi\'s couch.

"What did he have to say?" Alexi stood up and sat closer to his friend.

"There is a conspiracy inside the police force. He said not to tell you or uncle Jose because you need to know the root before taking action." Cedric explained. 

"So someone is pulling the strings from behind." Alexi said slowly as he thought of the people who would have enough influence to do this. 

"You shouldn\'t look into it." Cedric warned his friend.

"I won\'t, I just plan on narrowing down who has enough power and influence to work within the government to do this." Alexi said. "You do know who comes to mind right?" Alexi asked Cedric in a grim tone.

"They wouldn\'t dare." Cedric said, shaking his head. "Their local businesses were already struggling for a long time. Why would they attract attention by doing something illegal."

"Really? Haven\'t you forgotten what Calathea was willing to do just to get Eric?" Alexi asked his friend.

"I am hoping the Carpio family had better judgement than their spoiled heir." Cedric said with a sigh. He had not ruled out the Carpio family from his list of suspects, they were, after all, still hungry for the top spot.

"I guess it\'s unlikely, they know how you look anyway, they would have known that you aren\'t Jam and that you aren\'t on good terms with the Lobo family." Alexi said as he studied the facts closely. 

Cedric sighed as he felt like they had hit a wall again. 

"You know what, why don\'t we distract ourselves?" Alexi suggested as he stood up and walked to his table to gather some files.

"Do you have that much free time?" Cedric asked.

"No, but I\'ll do anything for the woman I love." Alexi said as he walked back. "Read this." He said as he passed Cedric the files.

"Is this your whole revenge plan on Selina Ramirez?" Cedric asked.

"Yup. She hurt my woman so I\'m going to hurt her back." Alexi said as he insisted Cedric take the files.

Cedric sighed and surrendered as he took the stack from Alexi.

"So she was adopted together with her twin brother." Cedric narrated as he read through the files. "She initially went to Julliard to take up acting, she lived in an apartment with Jen while Jen studied nursing. Wow, and nothing happened between them?" Cedric asked looking up to find a furious Alexi.

"Of course something happened, how could you live with such an attractive woman that loves you and not do anything?" Alexi asked. He was jealous that Selina Ramirez had lived with Jen in the past.

"Well if Selina didn\'t like Jen then nothing probably happened. Not everyone is like you Alexi." Cedric said with a laugh. 

"Continue." Alexi urged.

"Okay, it says here that most of their expenses were paid for by the Ramirez family or Selina\'s modeling gigs. Bro, your woman is looking like a leech!" Cedric exclaimed. 

"No, it only proves that the Ramirez family knew that there was something special between the two of them, otherwise why would they tolerate Jen\'s expenses and why would Selina work so hard to provide for the both of them if they weren\'t in a special relationship?" Alexi asked.

Cedric paused to think, Alexi\'s reasoning made sense, but he recalled the conversation he had last night with Katerina, she was sure that Selina was not the villain in this story.

"Don\'t you think it\'s a bit dangerous assuming something about a young woman like Selina Ramirez?" Cedric asked.

"I\'m Alexi Sebastian, who do I have to fear?" Alexi boasted proudly.

"Your father for one, what if Jen is wrong and Selina is innocent in all this? You\'ll be dragging the Sebastian name through the mud just for a woman." Cedric reprimanded Alexi. "We should learn more about her." Cedric suggested.

"Learn more? This is all the intel I could get." Alexi said pointing at the documents on the couch.

"There are some things that can\'t be determined by what\'s on paper." Cedric said with a shrug.

"Fine. But you\'re doing all the work." Alexi told Cedric as they prepared to leave.

"Why? You know her?" Cedric asked, pretending that his conversation with Katerina last night didn\'t happen.

"I did, a long time ago." Alexi said with a frown.