"Who is that?" he muttered, still feeling out of breath. He let Alyssa help him to his feet, but he kept his distance from the man. He didn''t feel like having the breath knocked from him again.


    The new man moved to stand in front of Melina, ring at Elias as he came closer.


    "I''d advise you to not yell at her again," he said in a cold tone.


    Melina grabbed his arm, moving to stand at his side. She tugged on his jacket, onlying up to the man''s shoulder.


    "It''s okay, Tyler," she assured the man. "We''re just talking."


    Tyler looked down at her before putting his arm around her shoulders, drawing her smaller body close to his side.


    Elias looked between the two, realizing that they were probably a couple. However, telling from the man''s strength, he had to be a vampire.


    He wasn''t going to hurt Melina, but he felt like he couldn''t even argue with her when her boyfriend was giving him a warning look.


    "I don''t know what you''re trying to gain by iming to be my sister, but I don''t want any part of this. I just had to deal with a crazy ex-girlfriend. I don''t want to deal with this too," Elias said to Melina.


    He guessed that Scott promised Melina something, but he didn''t know what that was or why.


    He had too many questions going around and around in his brain to answer, but something had to be up.


    There had to be a game being yed, and he was the destined loser. He refused to let Scotte out on top, though. He was going to figure this out.


    Melina parted her lips to speak, but she looked discouraged and closed her mouth. She turned to Scott for help.


    Scott scoffed and shook his head at Elias.


    "Hasn''t your naivety gotten you in enough trouble?" he asked Elias. "I''m trying to help you here."


    "All you have done is caused trouble! You terrorize my girlfriend. You taunt and bother me. Now, you''re making up lies about my family," Elias snapped.


    He was tired of Scott thinking that it was okay to mess with him and his life.


    Scott tightened his jaw, staring Elias down as the tension doubled.


    Alyssa looked between the two before grabbing Elias'' arm.


    "Let''s just sleep on it, okay? This is going nowhere," she said as she tugged on him to step back away from Scott.


    "We can just talk tomorrow," Melina added as she looked at everyone. "Please."


    Elias stared at Scott hard before finally looking away and nodding. He wasn''t looking forward to continuing this craziness tomorrow, but he knew that he needed to get away from Scott before hemitted murder.


    "Sure," he replied before turning away from the others.


    He couldn''t help but feel down now. He had been so ready for his life to settle back down, for there to be peace so that he could focus on joining his life with Alyssa''s.


    They couldn''t seem to catch a break. Whenever they took a step closer to one another, they were knocked back two steps.


    He was tired of being pushed away from his own life. Eventually, he would lose sight of it, and he would be lost all over again.


    **********


    Silence followed Elias and Alyssa all the way back to his penthouse. There was so much to say, but where would they even start?


    Elias was endlessly confused and frustrated over what just happened, and he didn''t even know what emotion to express more.


    Scott always seemed jealous of Elias. He tried to outdo him at every move, whether it was in strength or knowledge.


    Elias didn''t even care topete, but Scott made everything apetition no matter what.


    He couldn''t help but think that Scott was trying to sidetrack Elias for some reason.


    Pretending that some random witch was Elias'' twin sister was certainly a huge distraction.


    Maybe Elias just couldn''t trust anyone anymore. He actually thought that Ste wanted to genuinely catch up, but he should''ve realized how na?ve that was.


    He had been trying so hard to surround himself with good people and to refresh old connections that he let a few bad ones slip in unnoticed. He regretted letting Ste get away with what she did.


    What he felt the worst about was dragging Alyssa into all of this. She was a doctor, and she was a damn good one too.


    He had read all the rave about her. If he was honest, he had never lost sight of her. He read her published research, articles about her, and even chatted with some of the parents of her former patients.


    It made him feel close to her until he could no longer keep himself away from her.


    He was so proud of her, and he hated that his drama was dragging her down. If she wanted to walk away from him, he would let her.


    It wasn''t fair to force her through all of this. However, he would always cherish herpany and prefer to have her by his side.


    She made him feel whole, and he had felt empty all of these years without her, despite all of the sess that he had.


    He had put his entire heart and soul into his business, building it from the ground up. It was the only thing that distracted him from the pain of not having her in his life.


    He wanted to make something of himself, to prove to himself and everyone that he could live a normal life, that he could have a normal rtionship.


    He wanted to prove to everyone that Alyssa could be safe with him. More and more, it seemed like he was wrong.


    "Hey,e here," Alyssa''s voice broke through his thoughts. Then, he could feel her hand take his.


    Elias looked over at her as she led him over to his couch to sit down. He sank down into the cushion with a sigh, trying to dete and rx, but he couldn''t.


    He felt on edge, like something big could happen at any moment. His life had been like that for a minute now, and he longed for the day that he could just hold Alyssa and rx.


    "I… don''t even know what to say. Or think.. Or do," he said as he stared ahead nkly, feeling her lean against his side.