Never Judge

Adrianna was feeling much better the next day, although she hadn't forgotten what her relatives had done the day before she wasn't mad at her parents anymore, just at everyone else. She always placed the Hernandez family first and the only time she thought about herself was when she married for love over profit.

She was looking out the window, deep in thought when she heard Cedric call her name. ​​

"What is it?" Adrianna didn't hear what he had said exactly.

"I was asking if Island's Inc. was having a press event today." Cedric pointed at the building they were approaching.

"No, nothing is on schedule. And they wouldn't be waiting outside if this was a planned press event." Adrianna was equally curious about the reporters waiting outside the building.

"Why don't I drop you off at the basement and park the car at Mor Co. That crowd doesn't look too friendly." Of course Cedric already knew what was going on, he made the news. Since Adrianna was a member of the Hernandez family and was a senior member of the management the reporters would definitely try to get answers from her.

"That's a good idea." Adrianna said as she scrolled through her phone to find out what was happening.

"Oh my gosh, Cedric." Adrianna gasped in shock. "Uncle Fredrik and John are all over the news and social media."

Of course Cedric already knew this. Ram and Alexi both called while he was waiting for Adrianna. Katerina even took a step further and attached her name as the lawyer to make sure that no one in their right mind would take the case.

"I guess it's gonna be a busy day for you at work today." Cedric said. As a member of the Hernandez family and a member of the senior managers Adrianna would most probably be given some of Fredrik's or John's work while the issues were being settled.

After dropping Adrianna off at the basement Cedric asked Ian to reserve him an additional parking spot at Mor Co. Currently all of his cars were parked at the office while Veronica was working on his new house.

At his office Cedric turned on the news to see the damage Ram and Alexi had managed to cause.

Female Reporter: "I am here now outside of Island's Inc. and we are still waiting for the official statement of Mr. Fredrik and Mr. John Hernandez. Everyone was shocked when International Lawyer Katerina Sebastian filed both sexual harassment and bribery cases agains the father and son duo this morning."

Male Anchor: "Do we know if other members of the Hernandez family were involved?"

Female Reporter: "The report was very clear, only Mr. Fredrik and Mr. John was part of this case."

Male Anchor "And are there any signs of a change in management in Island's Inc.? Who are the relatives there that are most likely to take the reins?"

Female Reporter: "Based on our inside intel, right now there are quite a few immediate relatives working in major roles. Of course we have Mr. Fredrik's two other children, but I think the shareholders will most likely rule them out. Mr. Fredrik's younger brother, Mr. Matthew Hernandez is currently the Senior Vice President for Operations. His daughter Miss Margaret is a Senior Manager in the finance department. We also have Miss Adrianna Hernandez-Reyes who was recently appointed as the Head for Partnerships at Island's Inc., if you will recall Miss Adrianna has recently been linked with the heir to the Reyes Group, although we have gathered reports that it's not true. Mr. Fredrik's younger sister, Cathy, is the Head of the PR department, but she has in the past expressed that she had no intention of taking on a bigger role at Island's Inc. We are still waiting on more news if any of these family members will be potential replacements for Mr. Fredrik and his son."

Male Anchor: "We'll wait for an update from you."

Cedric grinned at the news, there were still mentions of the rumors surrounding Adrianna but it was only as a side note. He knew if he couldn't change the narrative he could at least drown it out.

"Mr. Cedric, I just got a call from Mr. Ray Laurence's assistant. He is on his way with Mr. Ram Abad, Mr. Alexi Sebastian, and Miss Katerina Sebastian." Camilla said as she brought over the document's they needed Cedric to sign.

Behind her was Ian ready to give his report.

"Sir, the news about Mr. Fredrik and Mr. John has created waves on social media. We've also seeded the information that Mr. John has been spreading fake rumors on your wife. Many people are already cursing him online. I expect the Hernandez family won't let this issue last. They will probably change the President tonight." Ian reported.

"Good. Make sure they don't get out of this easily. If we need to issue a statement Adrianna as the Reyes Group, make sure to inform me. Maybe we can use Ayanna to make a statement." Cedric instructed.

After a while Ray, Ram, Alexi, and Katerina arrived.

"I bet, the Hernandez family is trying to figure out how they managed to offend Katerina." Ray laughed as they entered Cedric's office.

"Well we did have the incident at the lobby." Katerina giggled remembering how she threw Asia out the door.

"I doubt Fredrik Hernandez told anyone about that. It's too embarrassing." Alexi told his friends.

"Will you be using your power now Cedric?" Ray asked.

"I need to give the Hernandez family as many chances as they can get. They are Adrianna's family after all, but I am not a saint. If they go too far I will just apologize to Adrianna." Cedric explained.

Cedric's phone suddenly rang and he picked it up. From the tone of his voice his friends immediately knew he was talking to Adrianna.

"Ian, Camilla." Cedric called and his two assistants came in.

"I'll be out the rest of the day. Keep an eye on the news and make sure nothing delays the expansion. Move all my meetings to tomorrow. I’’ll try to come in earlier." The two assistants nodded and left.

"What happened?" Katerina asked.

"The Hernandez family just called for an emergency meeting. I want to be there for Adrianna." Cedric told them.

"Okay, we'll go then." Alexi said bidding Cedric goodby and dragging his sister who was still comfortably sipping her coffee.

"Hey Ram!" Cedric called out. "There is a reporter from three stars news named Jon, he's assigned to all news about us. You might want to hire him, he figured out the watches, plus he warned me that people were getting extra curious about the Reyes Heir. I just underestimated his warning."

"Interesting. Alright I think I have the perfect job for him." Ram nodded as he went out.

Ray also said goodbye and left with his friends.

Cedric packed up and went to pick Adrianna up. When he got to Island's Inc.'s building the crowd outside seemed to have doubled. Some activists were also protesting asking Island's Inc. to remove it's boss that harassed women. Cedric grinned, it seemed the issue had taken a life of its own.

He went over to the basement to pick Adrianna up. When Adrianna jumped in she was in a jacket and a baseball cap.

"Are you sure you won't get into trouble for this?" Adrianna asked.

"I'm sure. What's with the get up?" Cedric looked at her from head to toe.

"There were some paparazzi found camping behind some cars here in the basement earlier. I just wanted to play it safe." Adrianna explained.

As Cedric and Adrianna rode off, one of Ram's well positioned online reporters posted a photo of Adrianna leaving the office in the middle of the day with an article speculating that the Hernandez family just called for an emergency meeting to change the management.