I leave my room in a rush after my, what will be the first of many, elbow surgeries. I’ll fucking kill Donte. My boxing career is looking pretty shot at this point; the bullet had traveled from my elbow and down my arm –exiting through my damn wrist. My arm has over two hundred fucking stitches in it, and it’s wrapped up tight and in a sling as I make my way into the waiting room.

I spy Amy sitting with Tyler and Bobby. As of right now, they’re the only ones here. I imagine there’s a dispute at the gym about when to leave and what cars to take; the event is still going on, so someone has to stay. It’ll be over soon, though, so I expect to see people in drones arriving. Tyler, apart from a line of stitches across his forehead and a few on his lip, is looking way better than when we had found him.

“Thank God,” he says and stands up to greet me.

I smile, but I also cringe slightly. “Hey, man,” I say, joking slightly when I speak in a hushed tone, “you and I need to be careful. The only reason they snagged you was because they thought you were my gay lover.”

“I could have gone the rest of my life without knowing that,” he says.

Bobby and Amy stand, and I am given hugs. “Glad you two are all right, at least,” Amy says, her eyes are soaked with tears.

“What’s the word on Marty?” I ask.

“They’re not telling me much,” Amy says. “He’s still in emergency surgery. The last doctor who came out here to talk to me just told me to pray. I think I’m going to be sick.”

“Screw that,” I snarl, and I march up to receptionist desk to demand some answers on Amy’s behalf. I’m nice, but I am also firm. Soon we’re talking to an actual doctor who fills us in on how the surgery is going; it sounds like we’re going to be here for a while, and it’s not like I’m leaving until I can speak to Marty myself.

Laurel arrives next, saying Mary and her parents are right behind her. She gives me this hug, and I let her squeeze me tight. She looks at Tyler and gives him a similar embrace. We tell her all we know, and she goes and sits beside Amy and clasps her hand in hers. Gabe’s parents and Mary arrive next, and Mary runs up to Tyler to give him a big hug; I suppose the last time she saw him they were dragging him off to kill him.

The fighters arrive in two groups: first Marianna, Britany, and Eleanor. Then Katie and LaWanda. Damion and Alex arrive too, saying they threw a bunch of duties off on some of the volunteers. Soon, our little group is taking up the majority of the waiting room. I fill everyone in on what happened, and everyone is nothing short of shocked and horrified. Gabe’s parents cry when I tell everyone what Donte and Vivian had done to try to kill me and threaten me –resulting in the deaths of both Gabe and Caleb.

“So…” Damion, the old bastard I got to love, addresses the uncomfortable elephant in the room. “Is what Donte said about Brandi and Ambriel true?”

As if it was fate, Brandi finally arrives; I’m sure the baby is what held her up. She’s pushing a stroller into the waiting room, but I jump up to nab her before she can get inside. “Hey,” I say, “let’s step out into the hall. We need to talk.”

We step out, and I look down at Ambriel. I can’t help but to pick her up and hold her. I kiss her forehead and then lay her back down in her stroller. “How’s Marty? What happened? Is he going to be okay? Laurel said he was really hurt.”

“Easy, Brandi,” I say. “He’s still in surgery, so we don’t know much yet. He was shot, and he fell two stories and landed flat on his back.”

Brandi looks legitimately upset. “Laurel told me you knocked Donte out. I wish I could have seen it.”

“I’m sure you would have been proud,” I say. I take in a deep breath. “Brandi, Donte was after me this whole time. He’s the one who hired someone to kill me, but the guy killed Gabe instead, and he’s the one who hired someone to kill Caleb. He hurt Laurel and Mary and Tyler… and he shot Marty. All because he thinks that Ambriel is his.” Brandi goes pale, and I know that it is a possibility just by the look on her face. I frown. “Tell me the truth, Brandi. Is that my daughter?”

She hesitates, but she finally says, “I don’t know.”

I feel a lump form in my throat, but I fight it off. I cough slightly as though that will somehow dispel the terrible knot. “You don’t know? So that might be Donte’s daughter, then? Brandi, you cheated on me?”

“Yes,” she said. “Donte and I were together before you and I even got married. I’ve been cheating on you the whole time.”

I let that sink in for a moment. “Are you… are you still?”

“Up until last night, yes. I told him I was done,” she says.

“Last night? Even after he hit you, you kept seeing him?” I question.

She nods. Then she becomes the version of Brandi I hate as she becomes defensive and angry. “You cheated on me too, Jonathan, with that nut-job, Vivian!”

“You’re right,” I say. “But, damn it, Brandi, I dumped her before I asked you to marry me. I know that isn’t much better, I’ll admit, but you just… you lied to me. You lied to me about Ambriel. That’s just sick. How could you do this to me?”

She takes a calming breath. “I wanted it to be you. I hate Donte. He’s manipulative and violent. I don’t even know why I kept going back to him. I wanted you to be the father –I still do.”

“But you don’t know?” I ask to confirm.

“I have no idea,” she says.

There is this long pause between us. “So you broke up with Donte last night? How many times have you broken up with him before?”

“Once before the marriage… then again before you moved back home…. Then last night…”

“And every time you wound up going back to him?” I ask.

“I didn’t know he was responsible for what happened to Gabe and to Caleb-”

“Who cares? You kept going back. If all this craziness didn’t go down today, who’s to say you wouldn’t have gone back to him again and kept this shit up?” I bite my tongue to keep from saying anything too harsh. She’s already crying.

“I don’t know,” she admits. “But I’m done with him after this. He tried to kill you… kill Tyler, Laurel, Mary… Marty. I’m done. I don’t care if he is the father; he’s not stepping within a mile of Ambriel.” She looks at me with these sad eyes. “I will pay for a DNA test.”

I nod. I look down at Ambriel with this feeling of love that I don’t think any result to that test could wipe away. “Brandi, listen,” I say, still looking down at Ambriel, “I want to know. I do. But I want you to listen. I don’t care what that test says at the end of the day. That’s my daughter. Donte is going away for a long time; it’s not like she’ll have a father in her life if it turns out to be him. That is my daughter.”

This huge smile appears on Brandi’s face. “Jonathan, you have no idea how glad I am to hear you say that-” she steps towards me to give me a hug, but I hold out my hand to stop her.

“But you’re just my ex-wife,” I say somewhat cruelly. “That’s it. I care about you Brandi, and I want to be there for you and for the baby. But I’m done. I’m done with you. All of this… it was just too much. You cheated on me. You lied to me. You let me think that I was the bad guy this whole time, but it was both of us. You made me hate myself.”

Brandi drops her arms. “I suppose I understand. I really messed up, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, you did,” I say. “But I want you to know, I’m going to be there for Ambriel whether I’m her father or not.”

“Thank you, Jonathan,” she says. “I’ll find out. I promise.” She looks towards the door of the waiting room. “I suppose I should leave. Will you, please, let me know how Marty is doing?”

I nod. “Yeah, I will.”

She sighs and starts to push the stroller away. I can’t help myself; I lean down and give Ambriel a little kiss on the forehead. Brandi offers me a sad smile, and she leaves with the baby. I wanted to fight for us, but I can’t fight for someone like that anymore. God, I hope that little girl is mine.