The Billionaire’s Secret Quartet (Thalassa and Elowen) novel Chapter 1486

When Hertha caught a glimpse of her darling's eyes, a mirror image of Alaric's, and saw the soft, chubby cheeks framed in innocence and childlike wonder, her heart swelled with love. But then, in a flash, her smile vanished, replaced by a wave of panic and dread.

Her little one blinked her big, round eyes and looked up at Helena with serious intent. Crouching down to eye level, Hertha said with gravity, "Alaric is a stranger, sweetie. I don't know him, and you have nothing to do with him. Mommy won't mention that man again, okay?"

Hertha spoke with a firm seriousness, and Thalassa barely held back a laugh.

Wasn’t Hertha spilling the beans here?

Fortunately, her two little treasures were just two years old, still blissfully unaware and far from the child prodigies that Thalassa's four munchkins were. Otherwise, any bright child could have pieced together the man’s identity from Hertha's words alone, 'you have nothing to do with him.'

But Helena and Julian were too young, at the tender age of two, to read between the lines. They could only understand the literal meanings of words, not the subtext.

Helena, tilting her head cutely and looking up with sparkling eyes, said in her soft, adorable voice, "Mommy, you should talk about him. You look so happy when you do, and I like it when you're happy."

"I like Mommy happy too!" Julian chimed in, clutching a toy as he toddled over, gazing earnestly at Hertha.

With such devoted love from the two little ones, Hertha's heart melted. She caressed their soft heads with tender affection, her lips curving into a smile as she said, "As long as my little angels are by my side, happy and healthy, Mommy is the happiest."

"Yeah! We'll always be by your side, as your little angels!" Julian and Helena nodded in unison, their voices overlapping in earnest agreement.

Their earnest, endearing expressions were like those of two little penguins, utterly adorable, making anyone yearn to pinch their plump cheeks.

"Alright, my darlings. Mommy will always do everything to protect you. I'm going to have a chat with Aunt Thalassa, so you scamps go on and play," Hertha said gently.

"Hertha's right," Spencer interjected, emerging from the kitchen where he'd been stewing a pot of chicken soup. He sat down across from them and added, "Alaric thinks Hertha and I are married. He probably won't cause trouble as long as you keep him from finding out about the kids. Eventually, he'll give up pestering you."

Thalassa blinked in surprise. "Alaric thinks you two are married?"

She glanced between Spencer and Hertha, finding the misunderstanding new to her ears. For years, Spencer and Hertha had been nothing more than friends.

"That time he followed me downstairs, Spencer happened to come back home, and Alaric got the wrong idea all on his own. It's got nothing to do with us," Hertha clarified.

Thalassa gave a thumbs-up, half-amused. "Well played, you two."

Despite mistakenly believing that Hertha was married to Spencer, Alaric continued to linger around her apartment, showing concern and even sending her gifts.