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.

ringing? Hold on, I'll come

got up and headed

Georgia, instinctively fearing it might be them

it was

there. She was briefly surprised but quickly stepped aside, saying,

entered, Thalassa

like

overhearing Hertha's voice, felt a jolt in his

hoarse, barely a whisper, too soft for those in the

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

opened his mouth to speak, then swallowed the words back down, a

come, what was the point in calling out to her? It would only deepen her disdain for him. She had made it clear; she found him repulsive, believing there could never be anything between 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

wanted to check on him, Alaric quickly lay back down and closed

did, footsteps approached closer