The Billionaire’s Secret Quartet (Thalassa and Elowen) novel Chapter 1561

"I've heard about it. You're slaving away at the Crawley Group, making what, a grand a month? That wouldn’t even cover your daily coffee run!" Angelina’s voice dripped with sarcasm.

Alaric's gaze darkened as he responded, "If that's all, I'm hanging up."

"Wait!" Angelina cut in quickly, "Your grandpa wants to see you, says you should come home for dinner."

"I'm tied up today, I'll call Grandpa myself tomorrow." Alaric didn’t want to get entangled in a conversation with Angelina more than necessary. If his grandpa wanted to see him, he would get in touch directly.

"You don’t want to come home, do you?" Angelina pressed just as he was about to end the call.

"So what if I don’t?" Alaric retorted, his voice tinged with defiance.

Was it that easy for Angelina to summon him back to the Falconer household after she’d been the one to cast him out?

He knew it. Angelina was using Grandpa as bait, trying to trick him into returning.

He refused to be led around by Angelina anymore, refused to listen to her whims!

"Fine, if you don't want to come home, that’s your call," Angelina said, her tone less forceful than Alaric had expected, taking a step back.

Alaric frowned, wondering what game Angelina was playing now.

Before he could speak, the voice of Remington Falconer came through the phone, "Alaric, you've been away for more than ten days now. Grandpa misses you. Why don't we have dinner together today?"

That truly was his grandpa!

No matter how much Alaric resisted Angelina, he couldn't use the same harsh tone with his grandpa.

Grandpa had always been there for him, even willing to spend a fortune to annul his engagement with Georgia when things got complicated.

Seeing Georgia instantly put Alaric on edge, his defenses up. "Georgia, what are you doing here?"

"Angelina told me you arranged to have dinner with me here today," Georgia said as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Alaric's face tightened, a storm brewing in his sharp eyes.

He’d been duped, his grandpa and Angelina teaming up against him?

He had underestimated Angelina's cunning!

"You got it wrong. It was my mom who arranged this, not me. If you're looking for a date, go talk to her," Alaric said emotionlessly, turning to leave.

"Alaric!" Georgia called after him, catching up and clutching him from behind, her apologies flowing, "I'm sorry, Alaric, I was wrong. Angelina and Mom already gave me a talking to. I won’t ever treat you like that again, please, just forgive me this once."