Never Judge

"Are you seriously telling me that you only looked over employees with the surname Reyes?!" Ian asked angrily as he slammed his hand on the desk.

Although he promised the other boys that he would go home and rest, he decided to go to R Tower and help Dave with the investigation.

Ian knew that the more people were there to help, the faster the investigation could run. He was disappointed to find out that their team was only looking into people that used the Reyes last name.

"Do you think that your CEO is stupid or something?" Ian shouted. "Cedric would never do something so obvious!" 

"Sir, he lived under that name for years and -" One subordinate dared to say. He stopped when he noticed Dave shaking his head.

"The boss wouldn't." Dave added. "He knows we would check that."

"Check every single employee that we have not done a background check on!" Ian demanded.

"Yes sir." Their employees said as they quickly left Ian's office to continue on the investigation.

Cedric had long assigned this office to Ian, he just didn't like to use it. He preferred to work with Dave and Mae outside of Cedric's office.

"I thought Ray told you to rest?" Dave asked when they were finally alone in the office.

"Would you be able to rest, knowing that Cedric is out there, still outsmarting us at every turn?" Ian asked Dave as he tilted his head and sighed.

"Cedric is smart, it won't be easy to find him." Dave commented as he sat back down at his desk in Ian's office.

Since Cedric's disappearance Dave and Ian have been the ones dealing with all of the investigations. Both Cedric's disappearance and those that Cedric had left to them before vanishing.

"How is Adrianna holding up?" Ian asked Dave. Ian barely had the chance to speak to his friend's wife since he was looking for Cedric.

"Mae said that she's been sick, but Mae has been taking care of her a lot." Dave said with a weak smile. "It seems that Mae had been speaking to Mia before her passing so she knows what makes the madam tick."

"You know she will scold you for calling her the madam right?" Ian said with a laugh. Among friends the Reyes couple refused to be addressed so formally they found it awkward.

"The boss would have liked it if we addressed her formally." Dave said with a shrug as he returned his attention to the files in front of him.

Ian sighed and looked at the map where he had pinned all the possible sightings of Cedric. It was funny because they were all around R Tower, but he knew Cedric, his friend would have stayed where he could be found.

"Ian, do you think it's possible that Cedric is expecting us to look beyond the obvious?" Dave asked as he lifted his head from the stack of documents in front of him.

"I considered it, yes." Ian said with a nod. "That's why I didn't ask them to exclude the Reyes surname in the people we want to investigate. It's common enough that we have five members of the support staff with the same last name."

"He could be hiding in plain sight." Dave said with a shrug. "He did it for years."

"Yes, he did." Ian said with a nod. "But back then no one knew the face of the Reyes Heir, now his face has been plastered all over social media."

"Is that the reason for all the articles?" Dave asked.

"Yes, as soon as we returned Ram suggested releasing some articles about the Reyes Group." Ian said, explaining to Dave the situation. "If everyone has seen how he looks, they will quickly flock him."

"Yeah, a lot of girls have a thing for the boss." Dave said with a laugh. "All my cousins have been nagging me to introduce them to him. I keep telling them he is a married man, but they keep insisting that married men still need women to satisfy their needs."

"Well, I'm pretty sure Cedric doesn't need a mistress." Ian said, laughing loudly at Dave's story. "Don't you remember what happened when Alexi walked in on Cedric and Adrianna?"

"Their love is legendary." Dave said, agreeing with Ian. "Why would Alexi do that?"

"He and Miguel were concerned, and they had good reason to be. It could have been a breach in the Mountain View Mansion." Ian said with a shrug.

"Leon is being discharged from the hospital tomorrow." Dave said, changing the topic.

"Does he know Cedric is missing?" Ian asked.

"No, not yet." Dave said, shaking his head. "I guess I'll have to tell him tomorrow when I pick him up."

"I'll go with you." Ian told Dave. "I think a break from all these documents would be good, and maybe Leon would have an idea on where Cedric is hiding."

"Says the man who was being sent home." Dave teased making Ian roll his eyes at him. 

"There is something that I am confused about." Ian said as he placed his elbows on the table. "Come here." Ian ordered Dave.

Dave walked over and sat at one of the chairs next to Ian's desk.

"I don't want to speak too loudly, but I don't understand how Mia and Mae could have spoken in the past. Mia has always been reserved, and the only other employee I have seen her speaking to is Leon." Ian said, airing out his suspicions.

"I'll try tripping Mae into telling me how." Dave said with a nod. "But you know how those women are, we don't know it but they could have been hanging out this whole time." 

"That's true, like my wife." Ian said with a sigh.

"So there are problems at home." Dave said, raising an eyebrow at Ian.

"We had a disagreement." Ian said with a sigh.

"About the wedding again?" Dave asked. 

Ian and Nicole had been having frequent disagreements about getting married. To Nicole it didn't matter if they were married or not, they already had a son and they loved each other, and that was enough.

Ian on the other hand wanted to have a wedding ceremony with Nicole, he wanted to be bound by God and by man to her, but Nicole kept refusing.

At first he thought it was a matter of his family, they had long since fallen from the top, and the Chans were quite picky on their descendants' spouses. But Ian soon found out that the Chans were more than willing to see them married.

"No, something else." Ian said, shaking his head. "We fought about the search for Cedric."

"Ah, yeah. Nicole has been on the give him time side." Dave said, shaking his head.

"I don't understand why she can't see that he is needed. His own wife is getting sick from missing him." Ian said.

"Maybe she and Eric see something we don't." Dave said with a shrug.

Nicole and Eric had been insistent on letting Cedric return of his own free will. They had even convinced Adrianna that Cedric might need his time.

"They are the experts I guess." Ian said, surrendering to Dave's opinion.

Ian shook his head as he packed his things. Dave was right, he needed to go home and rest.

"I can pick you up tomorrow." Dave offered. 

"Sure." Ian said with a nod as he left the room.