The Billionaire’s Secret Quartet

"What? Hertha dumped you?" Ethan exclaimed, feeling Alaric's forehead again. "Whoa, you're burning up. That's one nasty fever." Alaric swatted Ethan's hand away with force, visibly annoyed. "I'm lying here dying, and you're still in the mood to make fun of me?"

"I'm not making fun of you, man. I'm worried about you," Ethan said, struggling to keep a straight face.

Alaric gave him a sidelong glance. "Since when are you so kind-hearted?"

"You're doing me dirty, man," Ethan protested. Then, leaning closer to Alaric, he whispered, "Bet you never saw this coming. You, the heartbreaker, getting your heart shattered. Well, what goes around comes around, huh?"

Ethan couldn't help but laugh, his chest heaving with each chuckle. Only a true friend could joke about something like this.

"You wouldn't understand love if it hit you in the face," Alaric muttered, turning his head away.

"True, I don't get love. But I do know that if you keep this up, you're gonna end up dead. Not from this fever, but from starvation," Ethan said with a laugh.

"Just leave if you can't help me," Alaric grumbled, pulling the blanket over himself.

"Fine, I'll go talk to Hertha. She lives next door to you, right?" Ethan got up, ready to leave.NôvelD(ram)a.ôrg owns this content.

At that, Alaric suddenly grabbed Ethan's hand, his earlier humor gone, replaced by a look of sincere distress. "Don't go to her," he said, his voice tinged with a sadness that wasn't there before. "She made it clear yesterday that she won't stop me from seeing the kids. If I bother her now, she might not even let me do that."

Ethan was about to crack another joke but stopped short at the sight of Alaric's genuine sorrow.

"So, I really shouldn't go?" Ethan asked, his tone now serious.

Alaric shook his head. "Don't."

He couldn't shake off the memory of their last meeting, Hertha's irritated and disdainful voice echoing in his head.

She had made it clear, comparing

him to something dirty and

unwelcome: Alaric knew that his

connection to Georgia was a

deal-breaker for Hertha. Pushi

n

further would only make things worse.

For the first time, Alaric felt truly low.

S

any

Seeing Alaric in this state, Ethan decided to drop the subject. "Alright then, get up. Let's head to the hospital."

Alaric stubbornly replied like a sulking child, "I don't wanna. I don't want to get out of bed."

"I don't wanna move," Alaric insisted.

Ethan was speechless. He couldn't believe that a simple girl like Hertha could bring Alaric to this point.

Love, it seemed, was indeed a dangerous game.

Understanding Alaric's stubbornness, Ethan conceded, "Alright, if you won't get up, I guess I'll have to bring the doctor here."