By noon the corporate meeting room was filled with company vice presidents and lawyers.
Mark sat at the head of the long polished glass conference table.
They were talking about a new real estate investment worth millions of dollars.
Mark suddenly felt his mobile phone vibrate inside his dark suit jacket pocket.
He took out the small phone and looked down at the bright screen.
It was a notification from the security app connected to his house cameras.
Mark had installed a small hidden camera inside the kitchen months ago.
He had put it there to protect his expensive house from prospective burglars.
He unlocked the phone screen and opened the live high definition video stream.
The video feed loaded quickly and showed his clean white marble kitchen.
The bright light streamed through the large double windows near the sink.
In the video he saw Veronica standing over little Chloe near the counter.
The three year old child was standing on a small plastic step stool.
Chloe was wearing her blue cotton pajamas and held a heavy silver plate.
Veronica was leaning down very close to the little girl's small face.
Mark zoomed in on the live screen to see what was happening.
He could not hear the audio clearly at first through his phone speaker.
He saw Veronica point her manicured red fingernail right at the dirty sink.
Chloe's little hands were shaking as she tried to scrub a dirty bowl.
The heavy bowl slipped from her tiny fingers and splashed soap water everywhere.
Water flew across the shiny white counter and hit Veronica's silk dress.
Veronica's dark eyes widened with deep anger inside the live camera view.
She slammed her hand down hard onto the wet counter right beside Chloe.
The little girl flinched hard and dropped her small wooden scrub brush.
Mark felt a cold chill run all the way down his spine.
He watched as his wife raised her voice and yelled at the toddler.
Chloe began to cry frantically as tears ran down her tiny red cheeks.
Veronica did not comfort the child or pick her up from the floor.
Instead she leaned down closer and pointed her finger at the soapy water.
Mark stood up from his big leather chair in the corporate board room.
Mark: Gentlemen, I have an urgent emergency at my personal house.
Lawyer: Is everything alright with your family estate, sir?
Mark: I must leave immediately right now.
Mark left the room without saying another single word to his partners.