Never Judge

"Mr. Re- Re- Re- Reyes." One of the employees managed to say. It was clear that they were now all afraid of the man standing before them.

Cedric grinned, it was funny how some money suddenly made them fear him. He hadn\'t changed much as a person, the only thing that was different was that now they knew he was rich and powerful.

​​

"Adri, do you remember them?" Cedric asked his wife as he played with her fingers in his hand. 

Adrianna gave her husband a shy smile as she nodded. "Yes, if I\'m not mistaken they were talking about how I should just leave you."

"Sir, Please, we didn\'t know." One of the employees begged. "We didn\'t know any better. We thought you were just leaching off Miss Adrianna -"

"Mrs. Reyes." Adrianna corrected the employee in a cold tone.

"M- m- miss?" The employee stuttered as he gave Adrianna a confused look.

"I prefer to go by Mrs. Reyes." Adrianna said with pride in her tone. "You all used to call me Miss Adrianna as an insult to my husband, don\'t pretend as if it weren\'t true."

"Mrs. Reyes, it was your grandfather\'s orders." Another employee said, she was clearly scared of what Cedric had in mind for them. Most rich and powerful men would have them fired and tortured for how they treated Cedric in the past.

"My grandfather wasn\'t everywhere all the time." Adrianna said as she crossed her arms on her chest. 

More and more employees had gathered in the lobby, they had clearly heard that the CEO and her husband were teaching a bunch of urchins their lesson.

"Ma\'am we were afraid of your grandfather." One of the male employees admitted in a shaky voice. Cedric could see that it took all his courage to speak up.

"There were stories." Another employee added.

"Stories?" Cedric asked with a raised eyebrow and in a cold tone.

"People said that the Hernandez family fired people who didn\'t do as they asked. We were too afraid." The employee told Cedric in a shaky tone.

"And you let that lead your judgement?" Cedric asked the employee in a raised tone, he was getting angry. "What if you had ended up bullying two people in love and incapable of fighting for? What if you ended up ruining a person\'s relationship? What if it ended in death?"

Cedric was now fuming, bullies were some of the people he hated the most in this world and having them stand in front of him, pretending to cover their own asses with excuses was only making him angrier.

"Sir, we didn\'t know any better." The employees tried to reason out as they got down on their knees.

"Sir, we need our jobs, please you can torture us, just don\'t fire us. Please." A female employee said as tears rolled down her eyes. She was clearly afraid of Cedric. She didn\'t even care that people had started to record the scene with their phones.

"What makes you think I will let people like you off so easily?" Cedric asked coldly as he took two steps closer to them and crouched down.

Cedric was not looking at the kneeling employees eye to eye. He saw how scared they were, how much they feared him, it was something he had never seen in the past. 

"Did you ever think that your actions could be affecting another person as well?" Cedric asked as he looked each of them in the eyes.

"Sir, we did but -" One employee tried to answer, but Cedric cut him off.

"But what?!" Cedric asked angrily. "You were all too busy thinking of yourselves. What if that had happened to your brother or your sister, or your children, would you not think of the bigger picture then?"

The employees did not respond, they were all too afraid of Cedric.

Those that were not involved on the other hand continued to capture the scene on their cameras. The rich and famous of the capital rarely let people see them truly exercise their power, this was a scene most people would never witness.

"Sir…" Was all the employees could say before Cedric turned and walked away.

"Let\'s go." Cedric suddenly told Adrianna, shocking everyone.

"Are you sure?" Adrianna asked, she knew how badly her husband craved justice, how much he hated bullies.

"Yes." Cedric said with a nod as he lifted her hand to his lips and planted a gentle kiss.

Cedric suddenly turned and looked at the employees that were on their knees once more and sighed.

"Never ever look down at a person like that again." Cedric said in a kinder tone, something closer to his true personality rather than the cold CEO he projected. "It doesn\'t matter if they are rich or poor, powerful or weak. You five were unlucky to pick on me, but that doesn\'t mean that you can bully others."

"Yes sir." They responded quickly as they remained on their knees. They were still too afraid to move. Cedric could change his mind at any moment if they offended him in any way.

"And this message goes out to everyone listening." Cedric said in a loud and authoritative voice. "I hate bullies. I hate people that pick on people weaker than them just because they are weak. The fact that you go after people like that makes you weak." 

Everyone was suddenly in awe of this CEO, they had been waiting for him to act like every entitled rich man they had read about. Bulldozing his way, putting down anyone that offended him, regardless of who they were or what they did.

Cedric\'s actions were uncharacteristic of the typical rich man, and all of it was caught on camera.

As soon as Cedric and Adrianna left Island\'s Inc. the video of Cedric forgiving those employees went viral. People were shocked to see the CEO of the Reyes Group forgiving people who wanted him to leave his wife. 

"They will think it\'s an act." Adrianna told her husband as he climbed into the driver\'s seat.

"Does it matter?" Cedric asked. He was sincere in his words and he truly meant what he said, they had learned their lesson.

"No, but people will talk." Adrianna told Cedric.

"As long as we know the truth it doesn\'t matter to me." Cedric said, shaking his head. "They did it to save their skin, I can\'t blame them. But at least now people will know that if there is something wrong you need to stand up for it."

"I thought you would have me fire them." Adrianna confessed to her husband in a sad tone. She didn\'t want to fire employees over something so trivial.

"I\'m not that petty Adrianna." Cedric said with a laugh as he started the car and drove them away.