The sound of my mother’s cane striking the marble floor was sharper than the wedding bells outside.

"It hurts, Ethan," my mother whispered, her teeth grinding together as cold sweat beaded on her forehead.

"My hip... I felt something snap."

I looked up at Claire. She stood over us in her pristine white lace gown, her jeweled heel still hovering near the table where my mother's cane lay trapped beneath the white roses.

Her father, Richard, had stepped out of the dressing room, his eyes wide with a mixture of shock and frantic panic as he looked between my kneeling form, my groaning mother, and his daughter.

"Claire, what did you do?" Richard stammered, reaching out to grasp her elbow. "There are guests outside! The press is in the lobby!"

"I didn't do anything!" Claire hissed, her face contorting with ugly, unbridled rage.

"She tripped over her own feet! She's old, she's clumsy, and she's ruined my entrance! Look at my dress—her shoe nearly touched the hem!"

"You kicked her cane, Claire," I said. My voice wasn't loud. It was terrifyingly, deadeningly quiet.

"Oh, stop being so dramatic!" Claire snapped, throwing her hands in the air.

"She can sit in the front row in a wheelchair! Get the event coordinator to carry her out of the hallway! We have twelve minutes before the organist starts!"

I didn't argue. I didn't yell.

I carefully reached into my jacket pocket, pulled out my phone, and dialed 911.

"Yes, I need an emergency medical team at the St. Regis Grand Ballroom,"

I said into the receiver, keeping my eyes locked on Claire. "My mother has suffered a severe hip injury from a physical assault. She needs immediate transport to a trauma center."

"Ethan, hang up that phone!"

Richard shouted, stepping forward with his hand outstretched. "Are you insane?! You're calling an ambulance to the venue? It will ruin the family's reputation!"

"Your daughter just committed felony assault on an elderly, disabled woman,"

I said, setting the phone down on speaker mode as the dispatcher confirmed the paramedics were en route.

I reached down to my lapel, unpinned the white rose boutonnière,