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,

up and headed for the

a bit spooked earlier by Angelina and Georgia, instinctively

out, it

saw Thalassa and Hertha standing there. She was briefly surprised

entered, Thalassa asked, "How's Alaric

survive. It's just a nasty flu. Not like it's the end of the world," Hertha

a jolt in

a whisper, too soft for those

but then he remembered the disdainful look Hertha had given him when

opened his mouth to speak, then swallowed the words back

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

Alaric quickly lay back down and closed his eyes, pretending to

as he did, footsteps approached closer to