"For six months, people connected to Brooks Holdings reviewed complaints about this business. Families were turned away. Elderly visitors were mocked. Employees were threatened for offering basic courtesy. At first I hoped the complaints overstated the problem."
"And you believed them?" Victor asked.
"I believed the possibility was serious enough to investigate," Daniel said. "Today I came to see the place myself, without making an appointment that would allow everyone to prepare a performance for me."
Margaret added calmly, "We also studied the company as a possible acquisition. The loan purchase was a separate, documented commercial transaction, not a substitute for buying the dealership outright."
Brent Whitaker's camera was now capturing a different kind of spectacle. He zoomed toward Margaret's folder and then thought better of it when she looked directly at his phone.
"Please don't record private customer or lending documents," she said. "You can record the conversation where you're lawfully permitted, but some information on these pages belongs to employees and customers who have not consented to public exposure."
Brent lowered the phone a few inches. "I think I may already be live," he admitted.
"I accidentally started the broadcast when this began. There's a whole lot of people watching."
His screen showed a number moving upward into the tens of thousands. Victor looked at it in horror. "How many?"
"More than forty thousand," Brent said. "And the comments aren't exactly kind."
Margaret glanced at Daniel. He could see the question in her face: would he let the humiliation continue now that he held the advantage? He shook his head almost imperceptibly.
"Mr. Whitaker," he said, "whatever you do with that video, please don't film Maria or any other employee who hasn't agreed to be part of your show. They've got families and lives beyond this room."
"Of course," Brent answered, sounding chastened. For the first time all afternoon, he put the phone at his side. It was a small gesture, but Daniel had spent his working life noticing when people changed direction, even briefly, and he registered it.
Victor was looking back and forth between the loan notice and Margaret's expression. "We were about to catch up on those payments," he said.
"The bank knew that. Those arrears were temporary."
Margaret did not accuse him of lying.
"Your financial statements show pressure on cash flow, delayed payments to suppliers, and a cure period ending soon. We are not here to surprise you with a foreclosure. We are here because there may be a better way to resolve your position before more creditors are harmed."
"A better way?" Victor asked suspiciously. "Mr. Sterling," Margaret said, opening a second folder, "my client has prepared a proposal to acquire Sterling Prestige Motors as an operating business, including the inventory, trade name, equipment, and real property, subject to final title and inventory adjustments. We can fund the purchase in cash. The offer is fifteen million dollars."
The words seemed to drain every sound from the showroom. Victor's fingers tightened around the loan notice. "Fifteen million?" he repeated.