Never Judge

"I think they like what I did with the place." Veronica said with a smile.

"This place is amazing!" Julia exclaimed.

"Thanks." Adrianna said with a weak smile. The girls quickly noticed this and asked her what was wrong. Adrianna proceeded to tell them about how the Hernandez family wanted to sell her off to Mark Chu as his mistress. When she and Cedric refused they threw her out of Island's Inc. and even sent Uncle Matthew, Margaret, and possibly Henry away as well.

"Well, you can't drink your sorrows away." Sofia said as she pointed at Adrianna's baby bump.

"She can't be too sad either. Pregnant women shouldn't be sad." Veronica said as she lounged on the couch.

"Why don't we go out for some fresh air?" Julia suggested.

"Cedric might not let us. He's really worried." Adrianna was also hesitant to leave Mountain View, she had no idea what the Hernandez or Chu families would do.

"You're being silly Adrianna." Veronica said with a laugh. "You have a tighter security detail than Ayanna. Even if the Hernandez and Chu families wanted to hurt you they couldn't." 

"I guess you're right. I'll just tell Cedric." Adrianna said as she sent Cedric a message saying that she and the girls plus Veronica would be going out. Cedric quickly replied reminding her to bring the security team assigned to her.

"Why don't we shop for baby things? That should make you happy." Natasha suggested.

"That would be perfect." Adrianna said with a smile. 

Veronica asked a maid to fetch both her and Adrianna's bags and wallets before finally heading out in two separate cars.

"Why do we need two cars?" Adrianna asked as they stepped outside.

As if on cue, a gray sports car drove into the driveway. Adrianna knew that among the girls only Katerina would drive a car like that, and true enough Katerina stepped out and handed the keys to a driver.

"Katerina wanted to tag along, but she couldn't bring her car cause it's too high profile." Veronica said with a shrug.

"Katerina herself is high profile." Adrianna said with a laugh.

"I'm nothing compared to Ayanna and Veronica." Katerina said as she approached. "Wait let me change my shoes." Katerina said as she pulled out a pair of block heeled shoes from her bag and tossed the stilettos she was wearing into the car.

Julia, Sofia, and Natasha were in awe. They never expected Katerina Sebastian to be this laid back. 

When they arrived at the mall they couldn't go down immediately since Mia and the other bodyguards had to discreetly position themselves, another issue came up when Veronica stepped out of the car. 

Since Veronica had been cooped up at Mountain View since their wedding and hadn't made any public appearances, no one realized how popular she had gotten. She was not only the daughter of the Abad family, but she also managed to marry one of the most eligible bachelors in the country. All of these were in addition to her already existing fame and fanbase as a designer. 

"I told you Veronica was more popular." Katerina whispered to Adrianna when she managed to leave Veronica with the bodyguards and the crowd. 

When Veronica followed their group into the infant's section, people started to snap photos and whisper among themselves. 

"Now I'll be all over the news tonight." Veronica said rolling her eyes as she approached Katerina.

"I can see it now, are Mr. and Mrs. Chan expecting after a month of marital bliss?" Katerina said laughing at the idea. "You guys haven't even." Katerina laughed harder.

"Not so loud! We're in public." Veronica scolded.

Katerina was about to say something when her phone began to ring. It was her older brother Alexi Sebastian.

"Who are we filing a case against this time?" Katerina teased her brother.

"Haha, very funny. Are you with Adrianna now?" Alexi asked.

"Yup. What's up?" Katerina told her brother.

"Tell her we found her Uncle Matthew, and her cousins Margaret and Henry. They were chased away by the Hernandez and Chu families to a dangerous part of town. Luckily the danger there is controlled by Ray. Cedric has already bought a place for them to hide out for the time being." Alexi told Katerina. 

"Alright I'll tell her that. Send me the address. I'm sure she'll want to visit after this. We'll meet you there." Katerina said as she dropped the call.

"Adrianna, Adrianna." Katerina called out. "Your Uncle Matthew, Margaret, and Henry have been found. Cedric's arranged a place for them to stay and they are safe." Katerina decided to leave out the part where their own family had sent them to a dangerous place because they didn't agree with what grandpa Hernandez wanted.

"That's great. Can we visit them?" Adrianna asked.

"Yup. Alexi will send me the address and meet us there." Katerina told Adrianna. Katerina noticed Adrianna breath a sigh of relief and continue to look around. 

When they were done shopping, Mia arranged for all the items to be delivered by a separate vehicle to Mountain View, while everyone went to the location Alexi had given Katerina.

The Reyes group owned an upscale condominium in the center of the city called Raja. Cedric owned a few units in the building but only one had been furnished, it was a five bedroom bi-level unit that took up two floors of the building, it was there that Uncle Matthew, Margaret, and Henry had been taken after being rescued.

In the elevator, Katerina hesitated to warn Adrianna about something. When Veronica noticed this she nudged her friend to talk.

"Adrianna, there is something you should be prepared for." Katerina warned. 

Adrianna was quite anxious and watching the floor numbers in the elevator change.

"Your uncle and cousins might not be happy to see you. Even if we were the ones that saved them, they could still blame you for being thrown out on the streets. That's why it's important for you to stay a little bit further away." Katerina said.

Adrianna looked down and took a deep breath. She had been feeling bad that because of her, others had to suffer. "Even I blame myself." Adrianna admitted to the other girls in the elevator.

"It's not your fault. It's the Hernandez and Chu families fault." Katerina told Adrianna in the hopes that she would find comfort in that.

When the elevator door opened, they were greeted by Ray and Alexi at the lobby of the unit.

Alexi greeted the girls before typing the passcode to the unit, Adrianna noticed that it was her and Cedric's wedding anniversary. She couldn't help but smile that it was set at that despite them never having lived in this place.

When they entered the luxurious unit Alexi called out. "Mr. Hernandez? Margaret? Henry? We're back." 

Henry was the first to show up as he had been in the kitchen near the entrance. When he saw Adrianna he smiled and ran over to hug her. Unfortunately, he was stopped by a bodyguard.

"It's alright." Adrianna said as the bodyguard let Henry through to hug his cousin.

"We were so worried, Adrianna. Uncle and I were thinking that if they could do this to us how much worse would you be going through." Henry explained to his cousin.

Soon enough Uncle Matthew came down the stairs and smiled at his niece. "It's good to see that you are safe Adrianna. We owe it to your friends that we got out of that place they drove us to." 

"What place?" Adrianna asked. Katerina had left out this part when she told her about what had happened to the relatives that supported her.

"Mr. Hernandez, why don't we sit down and have some tea and coffee?" Ray said in an attempt to change the topic.

"Ray, what are you hiding?" Adrianna asked.

"Cedric will kill me." Ray said with a sigh. "The Hernandezes and the Chus sent your uncle and cousins to a very dangerous part of the Capital. Luckily we found them in time and my men controlled that part of the Capital." Ray explained.

"Why are you so scared of my niece's husband? He's just an assistant?" Uncle Matthew asked as he was confused by what Ray had just said.

"Margaret!" Adrianna happily shouted.

"This is your fault!" Margaret accused Adrianna. "If my dad hadn't sided with you we wouldn't have gone through what we did." Margaret suddenly burst out in tears.

"Margaret had it tough." Henry explained. "We were actually afraid that we might die on the streets. Mr. Laurence got to us in time as a group of gangsters were about to harm her." 

"I never want to see you!" Margaret said as she ran upstairs to the room she had taken.

"She'll come around. She's just in shock." Uncle Matthew explained.

"I'm glad you're safe. We can't stay long today, but I'll come back tomorrow." Adrianna told her cousin and uncle.

"Adrianna, we were told that it was the Reyes Heir that saved us. What are you to him really?" Uncle Matthew suddenly asked.