Never Judge

With the deal set and Francesca gaining more resources to further her career and a powerful boyfriend in tow she called her connections to stop harassing the Ong family. At the same time Cedric called Mr. Ong to set up a meeting, he had asked Francesca to come along and announce that she would be stopping all of the attacks on their daughter. 

Mr. Ong, his son, and his daughter waited nervously at Nouveau. Cedric wanted this deal to be as public as possible so that the Ongs would not have a chance to back out when their business managed to bounce back. 

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The Ongs had to wait for ten minutes before Cedric arrived with Francesca and Alexi. Initially Ray and Ram were supposed to tag along, but both men suddenly had business to attend to. 

"Mr. Reyes. Thank you for seeing us." Mr. Ong said as he and his children quickly stood up to show their respect for the younger man.

Mr. Ong\'s daughter eyed Francesca Rocci, Cedric could see both fear and pride in her eyes, the Ong girl did after all walk away with the man in the end even if she lost the child. 

"I am sure you all know my friend, Francesca Rocci." Cedric said as he pulled out a seat for Francesca. Francesca thanked Cedric and took her seat. 

"Yes, we know her." Mr. Ong\'s daughter said with her tone full of bitterness.

"Alexi and I and prepared the documents needed to sign over your Saints stocks, I\'ve taken the liberty of adding a clause saying you cannot at any point claim that these stocks were illegally obtained." Cedric said, as Ian, who was standing behind Cedric, placed the documents and a pen on the table.

"This is unfair! That wasn\'t part of the deal!" Mr. Ong\'s son loudly said.

"If you think it\'s unfair I will walk away and tell my people to keep the ban on you and your family." Francesca said, not waiting for Cedric to react.

"Heh, fine." Mr. Ong\'s son said as he calmed down. 

After signing all of the documents Ian took the paper away and brought it up to the top floor of R Tower for safekeeping. He would also give Nicole a call to tell her the good news. Since people found out about her pregnancy, Nicole was feeling depressed and Ian took extra care keeping her happy, he had even moved in to look after her. 

Back at Nouveau, the Ongs still stared angrily at Cedric and his group.

"Very well." Francesca said, breaking the silence. "I apologize for going after your daughter. I have moved on from that time of my life and I am even with someone else. I hope the best for you." 

"You probably crawled into the Reyes Heir\'s bed and became his mistress." Mr. Ong\'s daughter bravely accused.

Ceric glared coldly at the girl. Beside him Alexi suddenly laughed, it wasn\'t a regular laugh, rather it was something sinister and cold.

"You have guts saying that in front of people who are your superior. Have you not taught your daughter a lesson yet Mr. Ong?" Alexi questioned. 

"It\'s the hormones congressman Sebastian, it makes her muddled in the head." Mr. Ong said, as he clamored to find an excuse for his daughter\'s words. 

"But she already lost the child." Alexi said without worrying that he would offend the other party. 

"Sir, yes, but -" Mr. Ong stammered as he tried to salvage the situation.

"Just admit that she\'s a bitch and a whore." Francesca said as she looked at the younger woman.

"We\'ve completed our business here." Cedric said as he calmly got up. 

He then signaled for the manager to come over. "Bring my food upstairs. I can\'t eat here." Cedric ordered.

He wanted to say that he was disgusted by the Ongs, but since he still had business with them he chose not to be so upfront. 

The manager nodded and ran over to the kitchen. 

Alexi and Francesca followed Cedric and got up from their seats and left with him.

Inside the elevator, Francesca let out a sigh of relief. 

"Thank you." Francesca finally said as she looked up at Cedric.

"Don\'t thank me yet. This is only the beginning." Cedric replied coldly.

"I\'m the one benefiting from the rest. I should be the one warning you." Francesca said with a laugh. "If I\'m dating Ram, will I see you boys more often?" She asked.

"Unlikely." Alexi grunted as the door opened and they walked out.

Ian and Camilla greeted them at the elevator when they arrived as they walked towards Cedric\'s office.

They stopped by the assistants\' desks.

"Camilla, see Miss Rocci out." Cedric ordered. To which Camilla quickly stood and guided Francesca towards the elevator. "Have you told her?" Cedric asked Ian when Francesca and Camilla were out of earshot.

"Yes, I called as soon as I got the documents." Ian said with a nod.

"Good. Come in, let\'s plan." Cedric said as he opened the door to his office.

When the door finally shut behind them Cedric finally relaxed and took off his disguise. 

"Have they called for a board meeting?" Cedric asked Ian, as he took out a bottle of water. Being in disguise meant he couldn\'t drink anything so he was often quite thirsty after.

"Yes, Miguel did." Ian said with a nod. "It\'s set for early next week."

"That\'s enough time to transfer the stocks between the four of us." Alexi nodded. "For Francesca\'s other matter, I don\'t think the Ongs will be letting that man go easily. But I\'ve already put word out that should he apply for divorce the courts will drag it out for years then rule it against him. Katerina also pitched in telling everyone that she will show no mercy to any lawyer that takes his case."

"Good." Cedric said as he relaxed on his chair. "Now to the other matter. Did you discover anything Alexi?"

"I didn\'t, but Ray did. He asked me to pass this file over." Alexi handed a brown envelope over to Cedric. It was quite thick so it seemed Ray had found out a lot about the Mr. Cruz they were looking for. "The man works in the Underground so he is bound to have some form of connection to Ray." Alexi further explained. 

"Thanks." Cedric said as he placed the envelope on his table.