Never Judge

When they finally left, Ram entered from another door. He sat comfortably as a waiter came in and brought them some dumplings.

"Really? You're eating right now?" Cedric asked his friend.

"I missed lunch. It was a hectic day." Ram shrugged as he continued to eat.

"You never told me why the Abads hid their affairs and their children." Cedric told Ram.

"Business interests. The Juan family, Carlo's family, owned some properties we wanted. The David family, Jun's family, own the company that supplies our lights. The Sanchez family, Ben's family, owns a talent agency, we wanted to pirate some of their talents. The Von family, Dennis' family, ran a law firm that was supposed to file a very damning case against the Abads, and finally the Garcia family, Kevin's family, originally owned some of the equipment that Abad Network uses." Ram explained.

"It's funny how their sons all ended up bullying me. Such an odd coincidence." Cedric said with a laugh.

"Yeah, and all the illegitimate kids ended up being friends with Ayanna. By the way does Ayanna know you're doing this?" Ram asked.

"Yeah, we spoke about it two nights ago. She was happy to see revenge for her friends. She couldn't publicly be their friend since their fathers' families threatened them to stay quiet." Cedric explained.

"Those boys will never know what hit them." Ram said with a laugh as he ate another dumpling.

Cedric's plan began to take shape as soon as the fathers left the room. They were more than happy to have an excuse to name someone other than their sons as the next CEOs and Presidents of their companies. They weren't stupid or blind and knew how worthless their legitimate children actually were.

One of the benefits to Cedric's identity as the Reyes Heir being unknown to the public was that he could witness his plans unfolding himself. The fathers had been quite diligent in reporting to Camilla and Ian, Cedric knew that the sons were now aware that their fathers had met with the Reyes Heir and that there were some movements internally in their own companies.

Cedric chose to visit a bar that the boys would often go to. He knew that they preferred to be seen so they didn't book a VIP room as most rich kids did. They sat at the center with their woman for the day. 

Cedric was accompanied by Ian as they took the table behind the five boys so that they could hear their conversation.

"Drinks are on me! Our company looks like it will be partnering with the Reyes Group soon." Cedric knew this voice to be Kevin. He was a slim man and he had a large breasted woman on his lap.

"No way man! My dad too just got a partnership!" Ben shouted over the music. 

The other boys suddenly began saying that their fathers too had managed to snag partnerships with the Reyes Group. They all laughed at the coincidence.

"I was kind of hoping that dad would give me more work, but he ended up promoting this girl Krista." Dennis Von complained.

"Dude, do you think your dad is tapping that?" Jun David asked his friend with a laugh. Cedric wanted to spit his drink at the thought. Krista was actually Krista Von, Dennis' younger half-sister.

"She's pretty hot. I wouldn't mind doing her." Dennis said with a laugh. "I'm not complaining though. I don't like to work, so if dad can keep me as far away from business as possible, I don't mind."

"I feel you man." Carlo Juan nodded in agreement. "I'm glad my dad decided to take this junior manager under his wing. I can just use that kid to manage the business when he finally hands the shares over to me." 

Cedric knew that the junior manager Carlos was referring to was Paolo Juan. All of the illegitimate children had been carrying their mother's surname so none of the boys knew any better. They all thought that the employees their fathers were training were nothing more than just some employee that showed potential. They didn't realize the threat that these people truly posed to them. 

Aside from Paolo Juan and Krista Von, the other illegitimate children were Matteo David, Jun David's half brother, Tricia Sanchez, Ben Sanchez's half sister, and Erik Garcia, Kevin Garcia's half brother. All five of them had gone to the same university in the same year and they all took the same major. They had all ended up as classmates together with Ayanna Reyes. Everyone knew who Ayanna Reyes was, they were all quite surprised to see the daughter of such a powerful and well known clan making friends with their lesser classmates. 

All five of them knew the circumstances of their births, none of them met their fathers until they started working in the family businesses. They, unlike their elder brothers, all knew that they could lose everything in an instant. So they strived to study hard and work hard while keeping a low profile, their mothers after all had been young actresses back in the day. 

"Make sure to record this." Cedric told Ian who simply nodded. 

Ian already anticipated what his boss would want and arranged for hidden cameras and recording devices to be installed in the bar earlier that day. He was sure that something was bound to happen that Cedric could use against his bullies.

When Cedric and Ian went out of the bar they were greeted by an angry Nicole.

"How dare you put work ahead of our date!" Nicole shouted as she slapped Ian.

"Nicole, don't blame Ian, this is my fault." Cedric said as he attempted to get Nicole to calm down.

"No! This isn't the first time he has placed work before our relationship. We are going to talk about this now!" Nicole said as she pulled Ian into her car and drove off with her security attempting to catch up with her.

They left an extremely puzzled Cedric standing at the parking lot. After a while, Cedric's car drove up, before Cedric got in he heard a couple of familiar voices.

���Wow, there is only one of that car in the country." It was Jun David, gasping at the sight of Cedric's car.

Cedric was very tempted to turn around and show them that the person they used to bully is much more powerful than them, but he chose to remain rational and continued to get into his car. 

He felt a satisfaction in hearing his former bullies being shocked at the sight of his car.