The front double doors clicked open with a heavy, deliberate thud that echoed through the marble foyer and traveled straight into the dining room.
Ethan: Clara! Where are you?!
Maya: We are right in here, Ethan! In the dining room by the Christmas tree!
Clara: Ethan, darling! Thank goodness you're home early! Maya just attacked me unprovoked!
Ethan: Shut your mouth, Clara. I've been watching the live feed on my phone since I pulled into the gated driveway.
Clara froze in her seat, her mouth hanging open as the fair-skinned man in a dark grey sweater walked into the brightly lit room.
Clara: Ethan, let me explain! The baby wouldn't stop crying and my nerves were completely frayed from the divorce stress!
Ethan: You think stress gives you the right to strike a baby? You think a crying infant justifies physical violence?
Clara: It was a tiny mistake! A momentary slip of judgment in a house with too much pressure!
Ethan: Pressure? I gave you a life of luxury, a billionaire lifestyle, a mansion, and a secure estate trust, and this is how you treat my flesh and blood?
Clara: You're blowing this out of proportion because of your bitter ex-wife standing over there!
Ethan: Maya saved my daughter from a monster like you! Look at that red mark on my baby's face!
Clara: She fell out of her high chair! It was an accident, I swear to you on my mother's grave!
Ethan: Don't you dare lie to my face when I watched you wind up and slap her across the cheek with my own two eyes on my screen!
Clara: Ethan, please... let's talk about our prenuptial agreement and the property settlement in private.
Ethan: There will be no property settlement for you. You are walking out of my life with absolute zero.
Clara: You can't just throw me out! My name is on the deed, and my divorce lawyers will strip your company bare!
Ethan: Let your lawyers try to defend an attempted child abuse charge in front of a criminal jury.
Clara: You're going to ruin my social standing over a minor family dispute?
Ethan: Your social standing is finished, Clara. You are poison to anyone who crosses your path.
A close-up shot revealed a fair-skinned man in a dark grey sweater glaring with intense fury, his eyes filled with a deep, burning rage.
Low dramatic rumble filled the background audio as the tension in the room built to an unbearable, suffocating peak.
Ethan: You had the audacity to touch my daughter in my own home.
Clara: Ethan, step back! Don't you dare come any closer to me!
Ethan: You told Maya it was barely anything. Let's see how you like a real impact.
The medium shot showed the man in the dark grey sweater walking up to the table where the woman in the mustard yellow sweater is seated.
Ethan: You put your hands on my daughter?!
Clara: I am your wife! You cannot physically assault me!
Ethan: You stopped being my wife the moment you raised your hand against an innocent baby.