The Billionaire's Secret Quartet

Lydia, seeing Alaric shake his head, decided not to get up to answer the door.

The doorbell rang for a while and then stopped.

Just as Lydia was about to breathe a sigh of relief, her cell phone buzzed in her pocket.

Checking the caller ID, she saw it was Thalassa calling and quickly answered.

"Lydia, did you swing by Alaric's place to check up on him?" Thalassa's concerned voice came through the phone.

"Yeah, I did. Gave him a shot," Lydia replied.

"Have you left yet?" Thalassa inquired.

"No, still here," Lydia said.

"We're at his doorstep, rang the bell but got no answer," Thalassa explained.

was you ringing? Hold on, I'll

got up and headed

bit spooked earlier by Angelina and Georgia, instinctively fearing it might be them again

it was

the door, Lydia saw Thalassa and Hertha standing there. She was

and Hertha entered, Thalassa

flu. Not like it's the end of the world," Hertha

jolt in his heart and excitedly sat

barely a whisper, too soft

but then he remembered the disdainful look Hertha had given him when they fast parted, along

the words back down, a look of dejection

them. With that thought, Alaric's briefly recovered energy faded, and he slumped back onto the bed, disheartened. "You've got it all wrong. Alaric genuinely almost kicked the bucket this time," Lydia

quickly lay back down and closed his

footsteps approached closer to the