Never Judge

Chapter 197 - 197

"I thought you boys had some business to attend to?" Ayanna asked as she kissed Ray on the cheek.

"Just on the cheek?" Ray complained.

"Ummm… I'll go now." The young fan said as she ran away from the group.

"You scared her." Katerina said with a laugh.

"Since when were we the scary ones?" Nicole complained. "You've always been the scary one!" Nicole accused Katerina.

"You're just cranky cause Ian couldn't come." Katerina teased her friend.

"Shut up." Nicole said, ending the topic.

The other boys soon joined them, Cedric made it a point to stay as far away from Adrianna, they were still, after all, in public. After the events earlier Cedric realized that the more he wanted to help her or even look at her the more trouble he got her into. 

"Adrianna, What do you think about that necklace my brother bought?" Ayanna asked, bringing up one of the auction items Cedric had bid for.

Cedric looked up at Adrianna, he knew it was something that wasn't exactly her style, but he bid on it anyway. If she didn't like it he was willing to sell it, the necklace didn't come cheap.

"It's not my style." Adrianna admitted. "If it were me I would rather just sell it since I wouldn't be able to use it."

Cedric quickly picked up his phone and sent a message to Camilla asking her to sell the necklace he had just purchased. He wanted the sale to be as quiet and as discreet as possible. He didn't want anyone who heard Adrianna's suggestion to figure out that he just did exactly what she said.

Later that night in Mountain View, Cedric held Adrianna in his arms as the maids brought in all of the items the Reyes family and Miguel had purchased.

"I thought poverty training was supposed to make you thrifty?" Adrianna asked as she saw the number of items being brought in.

"These aren't just random things Adri." Cedric said with a laugh as he kissed her cheek. "Everything we purchased, except Miguel, are things that will increase in value. So in a way, they are investments." 

"Send my stuff to the guest house please." Miguel told the maids who nodded and did as he asked.

"Don't you want us to see what random things you decided to buy for Veronica?" Ayanna teased Miguel.

"I didn't ask him to buy them." Veronica crossed her arms.

Cedric laughed at the bickering couple. "Just admit it Veronica. You were very moved by what Miguel did." 

Veronica was not amused by what Cedric said, so she chose to ignore him.

"So which of these don't you like?" Cedric asked his wife as he pointed to a pile of jewelry on one side. He was hoping that the only thing she didn't like was the necklace from earlier.

"I like all of them." Adrianna looked up at her husband with a smile.

"It seems my son has a better eye for these things than my husband." Priscilla said in jest as she looked at the items Emilio had won.

"But darling, these are very expensive and we will have many people begging to buy it from us in the future." Emilio Reyes always had profit in mind.

"We've been married for over thirty years!" Priscilla socled her husband, making everyone laugh.

"I had Camilla sell the necklace. She'll do it discreetly." Cedric told his wife as he played with her fingers that were interlocked with his. "Aren't you tired? We've had a very long day." Cedric said, concerned about his wife's well being.

As if on cue Adrianna yawned and Cedric laughed. "Let's go to bed." He lifted his wife and went upstairs.

When Monday rolled in Cedric dropped Adrianna off at Island's Inc.'s office building. He had to pack up his things at Mor Co. so that Veronica could begin the renovation.

Adrianna sat by her desk as Mia and another assistant read her schedule to her. 

"Mrs. Reyes, your Uncle Matthew said he needed to talk to you about something important." The other assistant said.

"Move my schedule. I can talk to him now." Adrianna said as she handed some papers she needed to sign.

The assistant left to call Uncle Matthew.

"Mrs. Reyes, your husband asked me to remind you to leave earlier today. You have a doctor's appointment. He will just meet you at the hospital." Mia informed Adrianna.

"Adri, how are you feeling today? And how is my little niece?" Matthew greeted when he came in.

"I'm fine uncle. Why do you guys keep thinking it's a little girl?" Adrianna said with a laugh. "Mia you can go." 

Mia nodded and left.

"We have a problem Adri." Uncle Matthew said with a frown. "We lost several of our projects to M Designs."

"How many?" Adrianna asked.

"Five." Uncle Matthew felt ashamed to have lost so many.

"It's okay Uncle. We win some, we lose some. We still have our biggest projects like the ones with the Reyes Group and Saints. We also have that project with Breeze Air. Five projects won't make us go bankrupt." Adrianna tried to comfort her uncle.

"I just don't understand how five different partners just backed out without any warning. Usually there are signs, things they aren't happy about, or connections within the company to our competitors. This time they all just said they are going with a different brand all of a sudden." Uncle Matthew said as he scratched his head.

"Uncle, why don't you focus on the plans for Henry's new designs. I'm sure we need to build relationships for the launch of those designs." Adrianna suggested. 

"You're right. Have you checked if Lights Entertainment is willing to let us use Eric Chan to endorse the new designs?" Uncle Matthew asked eagerly.

"Uncle, we spoke about this. I'm not approaching Ram or any of Cedric's friends for help. Plus we can't afford Eric Chan." Adrianna explained. 

"Adri, you're in a unique position to use your connections. I strongly advise using it. It's only a logical business decision. Even the Reyes Group maximizes those connections." Uncle Matthew pushed.

"Uncle, no." Adrianna said in a slightly raised voice. "I said I would never use the same strategies as everyone else. I want Island's Inc. to rise fairly this way." She explained in a calmer tone.

"Very well." Uncle Mattew surrendered. "If you plan to go that route, then I suggest using an agency to find an endorser. Ask them to keep the company name a secret while looking for the endorser. You husband and his friends would definitely give you a huge discount if they found out that it was Island's Inc. looking for an endorser." Adrianna relied on Uncle Matthew's experience since taking the helm. At first she offered him the CEO position but he refused, Adrianna assumed that he was afraid that Cedric wouldn't appreciate it if he took the role away from her.

"Alright Uncle. Just keep me posted on Henry's project." Adrianna told her uncle with a smile.