He Tripped Me at the Wedding So She Could Catch the Bouquet Chapter 05

He Tripped Me at the Wedding So She Could Catch the Bouquet Chapter 05

That slap hurt so badly my nerves were still throbbing.

Everyone’s eyes were on me, checking if I was okay.

Nobody even had time to shut Zoe’s mom up.

Dignity? Not making a scene in front of the parents? Could it get any uglier than this?

I wanted to laugh, but it pulled at the wound on my face.

“Call the police.”

“I’m getting a medical report.”

I looked at Ethan, then at Zoe, who was about to cry.

“I’ll see you both at the station.”

Ethan froze, like that one glance had pinned him in place. He couldn’t get a word out.

Zoe reached for his pant leg, desperate.

“Ethan, Ethan, what do we do?”

He didn’t stop. He kicked her hand away.

Fifteen days in jail. That was the minimum.

Zoe’s mom deflated instantly, like a balloon losing air. She looked frantically between her daughter and Ethan.

“Zoe. Ethan.”

She turned to him, pleading. “Ethan, you’re good at this stuff. Please help me. I don’t want to go to jail!”

“Zoe, tell him to help your mother!”

Ethan said nothing.

“Ethan, you said you were going to marry Zoe!”

“You’re protecting an outsider and turning on your own family!”

The chaos went on.

Ethan’s mom stepped forward. She walked right up to him and slapped him across the face.

Hard enough to snap his head to the side.

“Ethan Hale, you explain yourself right now. Spell it out for me, word by word!”

“Who the hell is your family?”

His jaw was locked tight. His Adam’s apple bobbed, but nothing came out.

The words he couldn’t say? I could say them.

The way he and Zoe had crossed every line. The way he’d tripped me at the wedding and made me lose the baby.

The way he’d moved Zoe and her parents into the place I used to call home while I was in the hospital recovering.

Walking them around the city like a tour guide. Playing boyfriend to Zoe.

And today, his girlfriend of years got treated like a homewrecker.
Slapped and screamed at for nothing.

The air felt still, like only dust was moving.

The more I said, the tighter the veins in his arms bulged.

Another slap.

But this time, it was my mom.

Her face was red with rage. Tears glistened in her eyes. Her hands shook at her sides.

“Ethan. Do you remember what you said the first time we met?”

“You told me to trust you with Ellie. That you’d love her forever. That you’d protect her.”

“And this is how you love her? This is how you protect her?”

Ethan’s teeth clenched.

My mom started leading me away. Ethan’s mom followed close behind, like she wanted to say something but couldn’t find the words.

Stuck. Unsure.

I was the one who spoke first.

“Mrs. Hale. I’m sorry you had to see that.”

She let out a shaky breath. Her hands didn’t know what to do with themselves.

“We’re the ones who should be sorry. To you and to your mother.”

“I never thought Ethan was capable of something like this.”

She thought about all the conversations we’d had today.
Engagement. Wedding. Kids.

Gone. Like foam.

She hesitated. “Ellie… what are you going to do now?”

My voice stayed even.

“Mrs. Hale, I’m suing Ethan.”

“I lost the baby, and he’s responsible.”

“I held back before. I thought about you, about both our families. I thought about how long Ethan and I had been together. I thought maybe we could just end things quietly.”

“But none of this should have happened to me.”

A lot of people texted me.

They told me it was an accident. A domestic dispute. And with Ethan’s legal team backing him, the lawsuit would probably just end in damages.

But I didn’t care.

Ethan said the baby was gone, so it was gone.

But I didn’t want “gone” to mean nothing.

I wanted answers. And I wanted an ending.

It’s just sad that after all those years together, it came down to a courtroom.