Never Judge

Cedric was in his home office when the call came, it was Lucius Ting.

Puzzled by what the man would want, Cedric decided to entertain the call and had Dave bring over one of his secured phones. It was untraceable and unhackable.

"Did you get his number?" Cedric asked as Dave entered the room with Mien in tow.

Cedric's team was currently spread too thin because Camilla was at Kashmere meeting Guan Ming's parents. Ian was helping Cedric with some matters at Mor Co. and their international offices.

Mae on the other hand was currently at R Tower, holding down the fort there. According to her she couldn't stand anymore of her brother's and Dave's bromance and needed some space from them.

"His assistant called and gave it." Dave said with a nod as he placed the phone on Cedric's desk as well as a card that had Lucius Ting's number.

"Is Katerina on the way?" Cedric had asked for Katerina Sebastian to join them. He wanted to make sure that he did not leave a loophole for Lucius Ting to crawl through. He also wanted to know if there was any legal way for them to get to Lucius Ting.

So far, the worst they could prove was he hid his sister, who was a criminal. But even that wouldn't stand against him since he was not at his home when Louise's sentence was served.

"She should be arriving." Mien informed Cedric, and as if on cue Katerina walked into the room.

"I'm sure you can deal with this man without me, Cedric." Katerina teased as Mien pulled up a chair for her.

Even after having met her and worked with her in person Mien remained to be a fan of Katerina. Cedric found it silly since he practically  worshiped her as a god.

"We both know it would be best if I had you on hand." Cedric grinned as he dialed the number.

It didn't take long for the person at the other end of the line to pick up the call, and to Cedric's surprise it was Lucius Ting himself and not some secretary.

"Mr. Reyes, I'm glad you accepted my call." Lucius Ting told Cedric in a mocking tone.

"Get on with it, Mr. Ting." Cedric replied.

It was clear that both men did not like each other, the animosity was clear between them.

"You know what I want." Lucius Ting told Cedric.

Cedric grinned at the desperation he could hear from Lucius' voice. He was backed up into a corner despite having the Rajas supporting him financially.

There was one thing he knew that Lucius Ting wanted, and that was his family.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Ting, but you would need to explain to me exactly what you want. I could be wrong, I could be right." Cedric answered, glad that he had the upper hand now.

He heard Lucius Ting curse at the other end of the line, his patience was wearing thin and so were his options.

"Mr. Ting if you've called to waste my time then I'm sorry but I'll have to drop this call." Cedric said cordially as he pushed Lucius to divulge what he wanted.

"My wife and my son. I also want my sister back." Lucius Ting quickly declared, worried that Cedric would drop the call and he would lose the only chance he had to get what he wanted.

Little did Lucius Ting know, Cedric had already prepared a plan to trap him using his desire to meet his family.

"I cannot do anything for your sister, Mr. Ting." Cedric informed the other man. "She is a criminal and must pay for what she had done properly. Why don't you fly over to Madrid and reason with the authorities there?"

"Not my sister then." Lucius Ting was quick to give up, Cedric knew that this was because of the Esteves family. They were waiting for him to step foot in Spain to get his sister. The moment he showed his face they would nab him and make him pay.

"So your wife and your son?" Cedric asked, further testing the man's patience.

He knew that Lucius Ting would do almost anything just to get near Julia and Dominic, this was of course something Cedric could not allow, but he had a plan for that.

"Yes, my Julia and my Dominic." Lucius Ting said in a loving voice making Cedric think the man had a heart for a moment.

"Unfortunately for you, your wife had given your son up for adoption and I have no idea where to find him." Cedric declared as he wanted to protect the young boy from all of the mess his father had made. "Her family never entered him in any system, and as far as the records show, he has passed on."

"NO!" Lucius Ting shouted angrily. "My son is alive! I know he is alive. They sent him somewhere else. Her parents lied to her!"

"What about we talk about your wife?" Cedric asked Lucius Ting as he expertly shifted the topic.

"I want to see her, speak to her." Lucius Ting said in a rough voice.

"And what will you give me in return?" Cedric knew that Lucius Ting might give his surrender just to see Julia.

"Everything, just let me see her and take her away, she isn't part of this. She is innocent." Lucius Ting was practically begging as he spoke to Cedric.

"Who is backing you?" Cedric asked as he tried to see what Lucius Ting was willing to give up for Julia.

"They call themselves the Rajas, they told me that they are the real powers behind everything that goes on in the country and that you took it from them." Lucius Ting did not hesitate to tell Cedric what he wanted to hear.

It seemed that he was more desperate than Cedric expected.

"You will tell me everything I want to know about the Rajas and I will allow you to meet with your wife, if she is willing." Cedric made sure to add that he would only let Lucius meet with Julia if she wanted to.

"I'm not one to force people to do things against their will, Mr. Ting." Cedric warned. "I will have my people call you once we know if Julia is willing to speak to you. Good bye."

Lucius Ting tried to say something, but Cedric had already dropped the call and there was no way for him to call back.

"It can't be that easy." Katerina pointed out as she thought of the entire conversation. "He won't surrender just to speak to Julia."

"It's a trap." Cedric said as he looked at the phone.

"For him or for you?" Katerina asked.

"For both." Cedric told Katerina. "He will set a trap so that he could take Julia, but we won't let him leave." He declared.

"What do you have in mind?" Kateirna asked.

"Julia is on our side, she will keep him distracted while your brother's men raid his offices and residences for things we can use to convict him." Cedric ran the plan in his head multiple times, he knew that everything depended on Julia and if they found anything.

"You don't have a warrant." Katerina argued.

"We don't, but the police can enter his home in pursuit of other criminals or other criminal acts. Am I right?" Cedric asked his lawyer.

Katerina nodded as she began to understand his plan. She knew this tactic had been used once before by Cedric's father Emilio Reyes in the past. Ian had told her stories of his first dangerous mission for the CEO.

"Okay, let's say you do get him arrested and the charges to hold, what then?" Katerina asked as she waited for Cedric's response.

Everyone knew that this fight was about more than just business.

Aside from the damage he had done to Mor. Co and the Reyes Group, he had also created a lot of turmoil amongst the Chans.

There was also the matter of Camilla, they all knew that Guan Ming and Cedric were eager to make him pay for what he did and what he was planning to do to the woman.

He also played a role in supporting Aiden against Cedric, his support eventually led to the death of Priscilla Reyes, Cedric and Ayanna's mother.

"Your brother and I can take it from there." Cedric said in a dark tone.

He knew that Katerina was in no way innocent with how the world worked. She was the lawyer to the most powerful families in the country, including the man dubbed as the King of the Underworld. But Alexi and Eric had made a request, they wanted Katerina to stay away from all the gruesome parts that involved Lucius Ting's fall.

"You will still need to deliver him alive to the Esteves family after, don't forget that." Katerina reminded Cedric as she got up and prepared to leave. "You need to do that legally, I'm sure none of you want to hear about him walking away."

Cedric had long understood the implications of their plan,  there were a lot of people that wanted to get their hands on Lucius Ting.

But his main priority was Guan Ming. He had sworn that Guan Ming could avenge Camilla even if Camilla had no idea about the vile things her boyfriend had in store for the man that hurt her and used her.

Cedric nodded, allowing Katrina to leave as he began planning with Dave and Mien, it was going to be a long and interesting night as they slowly built a trap for Lucius Ting.