The Billionaire’s Secret Quartet (Thalassa and Elowen)

Elowen's eyes were rimmed with red, tears swirling but not yet falling.

At Elowen's questioning, Sophia and Dorian also drew closer, looking at Lysander seated in his wheelchair.

Neither of them spoke; they just quietly observed Lysander. As they did, their eyes misted over with a thin veil of tears.

To them, their dad had always been a towering figure, authoritative and commanding, someone they looked up to with respect.

The dad they remembered was like a majestic mountain, towering and imposing, an object of their admiration and reverence.

But the Lysander before them now, seated in a wheelchair, seemed so much smaller, almost at their height, no longer the unreachable, awe-inspiring figure he once was.

They thought back to when Zephyr had sent them to military school, their dad's fate hanging in the balance, fighting for his life in a hospital. And now, three years later, they were reunited with him in a wheelchair.

children's hearts ached,

time. He wasn't as

wheelchair for the first time had been a shock to Atticus too, both

understood all too well how

their pain. This sympathy, however, didn't comfort him; it felt

to life

had found a semblance of peace inside. Yet, his children's gazes

the frustration of knowing he'd

strangers, but the looks from his

stares and Lysander's growing coldness, quickly stepped forward. Taking Elowen and Sophia by the hands, she spoke with a gentle smile, "Your dad is doing great, don't worry. Although he can't walk for now, he's still your dad, and

dad, he..." Elowen's voice trailed off, her

while saving me. He's the bravest man I know," Thalassa said, eager to shift the children's perspective from one of pity to