Part 3
Part 3 · 1 min read ·
“Say he brings his daughter. She’s ten. And she’s been staring at the car in your window for a year.”
“Then she can keep staring. Wanting it is the whole point. That’s what our ads are for.”
“And if that man was standing outside your front door today?”
[Laughter]
“Then he’d be asked to park around back. Same as this morning.”
“Thank you. That’s all I needed to hear.”
“Then let’s make it official.”
“Last Friday, the founding family sold its controlling stake in Arden Motors.”
“The buyer… the buyer is Route 9 Holdings.”
“And its owner is Caleb Turner.”
“Route 9?”
“I didn’t know. Caleb, I swear, if I had known—”
“That’s the point, Lauren. You didn’t know. And that’s how you treated me.”
“You could have told me. This morning, on the steps.”
“I wanted to see how this company treats somebody it thinks is nobody. Now I know.”
“That’s not fair.”
“It was never about whether I had a future, Lauren. You just couldn’t wait for it.”
“If I were still just a guy with a truck, would you be apologizing right now?”
“How? Six years ago, you were fixing other people’s trucks.”
“I grew up in my dad’s garage on Route 9. Then I spent ten years doing fleet maintenance for delivery and rental companies.”
“I built scheduling software for it and sold that company two years ago.”
“Show me the sticker on a windshield, and I can tell you where that car’s been.”
“So, this is payback.”
“I didn’t buy this company to settle a score.”
“Marcus, go ahead.”
“Preliminary audit. Fourteen months, $3.6 million, all billed through one vendor, Sutton Creative.”
“Owner, Blake Sutton.”
“They billed us for ambassador events, and we can’t verify a single one. Every payment was approved by marketing.”
“Lauren, marketing is your department.”
“I… I’d have to see the files.”
“We’ll see all of them. I won’t blame anyone without proof, and I won’t protect anyone because of their title.”
“Caleb, wait. Please.”