Ethan: Stay with Leo, Clara. I'm going down to the security office in the basement.
Clara: Take all the time you need, sir. We'll be right here playing with his blocks.
Ethan walked down the wide oak staircase toward the lower level of the mansion, where the estate's security hub was located.
Marcus sat in front of six glowing monitors, adjusting his headset as Ethan opened the door.
Marcus: Mr. Sterling. You're going to want to take a seat for this.
Ethan: How bad is it, Marcus?
Marcus: It's worse than just shoving him off a piano stool, sir.
Marcus tapped the keyboard, expanding a video file onto the central monitor screen.
The timestamp read eight days ago at two fifteen in the afternoon.
On the screen, Victoria stood over Leo's playpen while Clara was out of the room.
Victoria: Stop crying, you little leech!
She grabbed the toddler by his shirt collar and jerked him roughly, forcing him down into his crib before throwing a blanket over his face.
Ethan: Stop the video right there.
Ethan closed his eyes tightly, taking a deep, shuddering breath to control the rage boiling in his chest.
Ethan: Save that clip. What else is on there?
Marcus: Look at this clip from last Friday, Mr. Sterling. This isn't about Leo. It's about your father's estate documents.
Marcus played another file from the study camera.
In the video, Victoria was sitting at Ethan's mahogany desk, using a small silver key to open the bottom lock drawer.
She pulled out a thick leather portfolio stamped with the Sterling family crest and began taking photographs of every page using her smartphone.
Ethan: My father's living trust and property deeds...
Marcus: She wasn't just planning to marry you, sir. She was stealing your company's intellectual property and financial trust records for her father's corporation.
Ethan: Vance Industries has been trying to hostile takeover our commercial real estate division for six months.
Marcus: She was sent here to act as an insider, Mr. Sterling. The marriage was just the fastest way to get legal access to the trust fund.
Ethan: She used my son as a punching bag while trying to gut my family business from the inside out.
Marcus: What do you want me to do with these video files, sir?
Ethan: Copy every single file onto three separate encrypted flash drives.
Marcus: Are we going to the police with the child abuse charges?
Ethan: We are going to the police, the district attorney, and the board of directors at Vance Industries.
Marcus: Her father, Richard Vance, is the chairman of that board.
Ethan: Exactly. And tomorrow morning is their annual shareholder gala at the Dallas Country Club.
Marcus: You're going to crash the gala, sir?
Ethan: Richard Vance invited three hundred of the wealthiest investors in Texas to celebrate their upcoming expansion.
Ethan: It's time they see what kind of daughter Richard raised, and what kind of business he really runs.
Marcus: I'll have the drives ready in ten minutes, Mr. Sterling.
Ethan leaned over the desk, staring at the paused image of Victoria taking photos of his father's trust.
Ethan: She thought she could destroy my family piece by piece. She has no idea what's coming for her.