Nearly a month has passed and I still have Braylee. I just received a letter from the court. Today Aubrey and I will appear in court for our divorce and they will read the DNA results. I keep hoping and praying I'm Braylee's father. It would crush me to hear I'm not her father. It would also crush me knowing Aubrey betrayed me with my best friend and he's, her father.

"Please, God, let the test results reveal I'm her father like the test results revealed I'm Mateo's father," I whisper before grabbing my cell phone and wallet.

"Daddy, I can't find Dora," Braylee says as she places her hands on her hips. I bend down and wrap my arms around her.

"Braylee, no matter happens today, I want you to know I love you more than anything in this world. You will always be my baby girl," I assure her.

"Daddy, I can't breathe. Why are you hugging me so tight?" she gasps.

"Sorry, I just want to make sure you know how much daddy loves you. Nothing will ever make me stop loving you, Braylee."

"I know that, daddy. Can you please find Dora now?"

"Dora is in your room in your Dora toy box, Braylee."

"Oh yeah, I put her in there this morning. Thank you, daddy," she cheers as she skips back to her room.

"I need to stay calm, breathe, and have faith today will go the way it should. There is no way Ken is Braylee's father, because I know in my heart I'm her father," I sigh before sipping my coffee.

"Daddy, someone is knocking on the door."

"I hear them, Braylee. Thank you."

"Lydia, come in," I say as I step to the side to allow her in.

"Cruz. Thank you for calling me. I am happy you asked me to come and stay with Braylee. I really miss her."

"You're welcome. And I know you miss her. To be honest, Braylee begged me to call you because she misses you. All I ask is please honor our agreement. You are not to leave the apartment with her."

"I understand. I will honor our agreement."

"Thank you. I'm not sure how long court will take. If it's more than two hours, I will text you."

"Cruz, is there any way at all you and Aubrey can work on your marriage?"

"What marriage, Lydia? Both of us have hurt each other beyond repair. I didn't want this to happen, and I don't think Aubrey did either, but here we are. I just don't see how we can come back from all the pain we inflicted on each other."

"This is all Kendall's fault."

"It would be so easy to blame all of this on Kendall, but Kendall didn't put my wife in bed with my best friend, and Kendall didn't lie to me about my daughter's father."

"That's not fair, Cruz. You haven't been innocent in this."

"No, I haven't. I also haven't screwed my wife's best friend and lie about who my daughter's real father is. Make sure Braylee brushes her teeth after lunch."

"Okay, I won't forget."

"I'll text you later." 

As I park the car, I take a deep breath and think about how adamant Aubrey was when she kept telling me I'm Braylee's father. The look in her eyes and the sound of her voice were of sincerity. I have never known Aubrey to lie to me, especially about our daughter.

"Okay, Cruz, you really need to stop and think about who lied. It wasn't my wife, it was me. Aubrey never gave me any reason to question her loyalty. I cheated and lied my ass off. There is no way she would lie to me about my daughter. Please let Mr. Sloan come through for me." I say before looking at my watch. As I climb out of the car, I see Mr. Sloan approaching me.

"Mr. Sloan,?" I ask and see him lift some folded white papers.

"Hello, Mr. Garcia."

"Are those papers what I think they are, Mr. Sloan?"

"Yes, Mr. Garcia. Let's just say your instincts about your wife are correct," he says, and I soon sigh with relief.

"I knew it. Okay, let's get in there and do this," I insist. Once inside, I see Aubrey, and I also see her tears as she looks directly at me.

"All rise," we hear.

"Mr. Sloan. Mrs. Barris, I have the DNA results in my hand. Does Mr. or Mrs. Garcia wish to say anything before I read the results?" The judge asks.

"No, your honor," Mrs. Barris replies.

"No, your honor," Mr. Sloan soon replies after.

"Well, I must admit, this is rather disappointing. The DNA test results show there is no way Cruz Garcia is the father to Braylee Garcia," the judge informs us.

"That can't be right. Cruz, dear God, I swear to you, you are Braylee's biological father. I have never been unfaithful to you," Aubrey insists.

"I believe you, Aubrey," I reply, and notice the relief in her eyes.

"Your honor, I have another set of DNA test results that Mr. Garcia asked me to get. Nobody knew, not even Mrs. Garcia, that we were having them done. There is no doubt who Braylee's biological father is. The set of DNA test we ran shows Cruz Garcia is the biological father."

"Umm, okay. So that brings me to my first question, how the hell do we have two different DNA tests with two different results?"

"Your honor, if I may ask, where were the court DNA testing done?"

"At the hospital Mrs. Garcia works."

"Well that explains it."

"Excuse me, Mr. Garcia?"

"I apologize for interrupting, your honor. I'm sure you are aware why we are here besides the DNA test results. And I admit I wasn't faithful to my wife. I made one of the worst mistakes of my life. Not only did I disrespect my wife by cheating on her, but I also got the lady I cheated with pregnant. She, Kendall Wiley, works at the same hospital. It would be so easy for her to have access to any lab in that hospital. It's the only way how those test results came back I'm not Braylee's father."

"Wait, is this true, Mrs. Garcia? Does this Kendall Wiley work at the same hospital as you?"

"Yes, your honor. She would have no problem gaining access to the test results."

"Well I very much want to speak to this Kendall Wiley. In the meantime, we have your divorce to take care of," The judge says. I quickly stand up.

"Your honor, considering I'm the one who killed my marriage, I want Aubrey and Braylee to have the house and half of our finances. All I ask is to have some reasonable time with my daughter," I say before looking over at Aubrey, hoping to see some compassion.

"Mrs. Garcia, are you in agreement with your husband?" He asks her. Her tear-filled eyes look over at me and I feel sick to my stomach.

"No, your honor," she whispers and I quickly feel the tears forming in my eyes and my heart shattering.

"Very well. It's now up to me to do what I feel is best for all three of you."

"Your honor, perhaps you can order us to take some time and consider our options?" Aubrey asks the judge and giving me a bit of hope.

"Well, I can't exactly order you two into marriage therapy, but I can highly suggest it. Look, it's so clear to me the two of you still love each other. It's also clear there is still a lot of pain, broken trust, but I have faith you two will figure out a way to overcome this pain and perhaps trust again. Okay, this is what I'm going to do. I'm denying your divorce for now, and I am strongly suggesting the two of you take some time and really think about what led you to fall in love with each other and to consider marriage therapy. With that being said, you two are free to go.

"Aubrey," I say, as I gently grab her hand. Her hand gently squeezes mine.

"God help me, I can't stop loving you, Cruz. But that doesn't mean I trust you, because I don't.

"I know you don't. The trust you once put in me, I am determined to earn it back," I say as I kiss her cheek.

"I will call you later and we can come up with something for us to spend time together with our daughter, Cruz. And thank you for knowing I would never lie to you about who Braylee's father is. I just hope we can stop that psycho from destroying our family."

"You let me worry about Kendall, Aubrey. You go pick up our daughter and take her home. I have some phone calls to make."

"Okay. Cruz, please be careful. We do not know what she can now do once she realizes we're still married."

"I will be. You call me on my cell phone later," I say as I make my way out the door. Once I make my way to the car, I get this uneasy feeling someone is behind me.

"Why does it always have to be her, Cruz? Matteo and I also deserve to have our family. I was hoping you would let her free you to be with us, but now you leave me with no other choice." her disturbing words send a chill down my spine. I slowly turn to face her. A low groan escapes my lips as I feel the sharp blade cut through my flesh, causing blood to soak through my blue shirt."

"Shit, Kendall."

"We could have been so happy, Cruz. Aubrey wanted to set you free, but you just couldn't let her go. Now I'm letting you go. You can go straight to hell," she grins before running off. I look down and see the pearl white handle sticking out of my gut. The sounds of the singing birds become faint, and the speeding cars become more silent.

"Oh God, please."

"Cruz," I hear Aubrey's distant voice becoming louder.

"Cruz, oh God, baby. No, please, Cruz, you hang on. Help is coming.

"I'm so sorry I hurt you. I'm so sorry I hurt our family. Maybe this is what I deserve."

"No, Cruz, you do not deserve this. As angry and as hurt as I have been, I would never wish this on you. Don't you dare leave me or our daughter. We need you here with us."

"I was so hoping to earn your trust back. I wanted to show you I am still the man you fell in love with. Aubrey, you remember our song?"

"Of course I remember our song, Cruz."

"You still take my breath away, Aubrey. I love you. Please tell Braylee daddy will always love her. I don't think I'm going to earn your trust back, but I will always watch over you. I love you so much, Aubrey."

"I love you too, Cruz. Cruz, oh god, Cruz wake up. No, you cannot leave me. Please, don't leave me. You promised you would never leave me."