mercedes reunites with riley who cheats on her with mitzeee, leading to mercedes kidnapping her and riley's son in revenge. mercedes is arrested and shortly after riley is shot dead. at her trial, doctor browning is called forward as a witness when her lawyer jim mcginn (dan tetsell) blames riley for mercedes' actions, claiming he abused her so she prevented riley from seeing their son to protect him. doctor browning arrives for the trial where he claims riley was also responsible for killing lynsey. metcalfe revealed that mercedes is shocked when she sees doctor browning again as she does not know how she will react until she sees him which takes both of them "back in that moment when he was dragged away from her. she really did fall for him hook, line and sinker". the actress opined that doctor browning is her character's soul mate as he "gives as good as he gets" which is "really good" for mercedes.