Chapter 10

Graham thanked Laya, confirmed the preservation demand had already been filed, and asked her to maintain her own copy of the email somewhere outside the company's network. He told her she had done nothing wrong that morning—she had, in fact, done the only right thing available to her—and that she should document everything she remembered in writing with timestamps before the details softened with time.Laya said she already had. She then mentioned, before she hung up, that the showroom security camera footage was set to be automatically overwritten on a 48-hour cycle, and that if they wanted the original recording—not the archived management copy—they had perhaps eighteen hours before it was gone. Graham noted the time and relayed it to Avery immediately. The preservation demand already filed covered the footage legally; whether Sterling Crest would comply was a different question, but non-compliance now carried its own consequences.He then thought about the dashcam he had installed in the Mustang himself to test integration with Waypoint's fleet-tracking software. It had been running since he pulled out of his garage that morning.He called Avery, and by 6:15 that evening, she had reviewed the footage: the attendant's remark at the entrance, Chase's dismissal at the door, the cluster of salesmen gathering at the glass, Preston reading the business card aloud and placing it on the display hood, Laya's confirmation that the appointment existed, the instruction to remove Graham's name from the intake board, the threat to call the police if he didn't leave, and Preston's final remark: "Buy one car first."The audio had compression noise in certain ranges, and one angle was partially obstructed by the sun visor, but what it captured was more than sufficient to disprove every central claim in Sterling Crest's public statement. Avery did not release it; she sent a copy to Sterling Crest's legal team with a cover note that said Waypoint looked forward to resolving any remaining questions about the morning's events.Malcolm called Graham that evening—not to discuss the legal proceedings, but to acknowledge them directly. He confirmed that Sterling Crest had contacted the manufacturer's regional representative to request a review of the fleet pricing discounts Everett had extended to Waypoint, a move designed to destabilize the economics of Malcolm's contracts without attacking them legally. Malcolm offered Graham an exit from the agreement: if Waypoint needed to step back to avoid being drawn into a distributor dispute, Malcolm would facilitate a clean release without penalty.Graham said he wouldn't be doing that. Malcolm had shown him who his company was before knowing the size of the deal, and that information was the only thing that had mattered that morning. Malcolm said he understood, and then they talked about the delivery timeline for twenty minutes.When Graham arrived home, Paige was at the kitchen table with an article about the Sterling Crest situation open on her laptop, the comment section divided between people who believed Graham and people who were certain a wealthy man had driven a conspicuous old car into a luxury dealership as a calculated provocation designed to embarrass the brand for competitive advantage.

They Laughed at the Single Dad's 30 Year Old Mustang — Then He Bought 25 Cars Before Lunch

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He Came Home Earlier Than Planned — His Daughter Was Crying at the Bottom of the Stairs

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They Laughed at the Single Dad's 30 Year Old Mustang — Then He Bought 25 Cars Before Lunch