Chapter 10: Buying Zenith Motors

The door swung open.

A shoe stepped onto the pavement. Then, a man emerged.

Sterling immediately bowed at the waist, his rehearsed greeting tumbling out of his mouth.

"Welcome to Zenith Motors, sir! It is our absolute honor to host you today. I am General Manager Sterling, and I—"

Sterling looked up to make eye contact.

The words died in his throat.

The smile froze on his face, decaying into an expression of sheer horror.

His eyes bugged out so far they looked like they were going to pop out of his skull.

Standing behind Sterling, Derek dropped his inventory clipboard.

Maya covered her mouth with both hands, a gasp escaping her lips.

Jude casually buttoned the center button of his blazer and offered Sterling a faint smile. "Good morning, Sterling. The showroom looks a bit dusty. Did you clean the glass in the back like I asked?"

Sterling’s brain short-circuited. He looked at the hyper-luxury Maybach, then at the watch, and finally back to Jude’s face.

"J-Jude?!" Sterling shrieked, his voice cracking. "What the hell are you doing?! Did you steal that car? Get off this lot right now before I call the police!"

Before Jude could even respond, Victoria Vance stepped out of the Maybach. She adjusted her designer glasses, clutching a folder to her chest.

"I would strongly advise against that, Mr. Sterling," Victoria said. "Calling the authorities on the majority owner of this establishment would constitute a severe breach of your employment contract."

Sterling stumbled back. "Owner?! Are you insane? This man is a fraud! He was washing tires and serving coffee here! I fired him myself! He has zero money!"

Victoria opened the folder and presented the first page. "As of seven o’clock this morning, Mr. Jude Lawson successfully acquired seventy-eight percent of the voting shares of Zenith Motors’ parent company via a direct wire transfer. The ink is dry. The board has signed off. This dealership, the inventory, the land, and your employment contract, now belong entirely to him."

The staff gasped.

Derek looked like he was going to pass out. He had offered this man a crumpled twenty-dollar bill!

He had told him to buy a bus ticket... Now, Jude had literally returned to buy the entire multi-million-dollar facility out from under them.

Jude didn’t wait for Sterling to recover from his collapse. He simply walked past the manager, pushing through the doors into the main showroom.

Jude walked to the center of the showroom floor, stopping in front of the elevated rotating display.

Resting on the platform was the newly imported Zenith V12 hypercar. The $3,000,000 vehicle Chloe had mockingly told him to buy just twenty-four hours ago.

Jude admired the sleek curves of the car. It really was a masterpiece of engineering.

"Victoria," Jude said, not looking away from the car. "Have the transport team load this V12 up. I want it shipped to the private garage at the Obsidian Grand. I’ve been meaning to pick up a weekend car."

"Right away, Mr. Lawson," Victoria noted, pulling out her phone.

Sterling, finally regaining control of his legs, came sprinting into the showroom. His face was a mask of panic. The realization that the billionaire buyer he had been preparing to grovel to all morning was actually Jude had finally sunk in.

"Mr. Lawson! Jude! Wait, please!" Sterling begged, his voice trembling as he stopped a few feet away, bowing so low his head nearly touched his knees. "Trent Belmont is a powerful man, he pressured me to kick you out! I didn’t want to do it! Please, I have a mortgage, I have a family!"

Jude slowly turned around.

"You didn’t care about my rent when you fired me," Jude said. "And you didn’t care about the truth when you let a spoiled heir humiliate me on this very floor. You are fired, Sterling."

"Please, sir!" Sterling sobbed, his knees buckling.

"You have exactly ten minutes to clear out your desk before I have the security team throw you onto the street," Jude commanded. "Get out of my sight."

Sterling let out a pathetic whimper. He looked around at the staff, hoping for someone to intervene, but they all immediately looked away.

Defeated, and realizing his career was destroyed, Sterling dragged himself toward the back offices.

Jude turned his attention to the rest of the staff.

He locked eyes with Maya, who was standing frozen near the receptionist’s desk. She looked terrified.

"Maya, come here," Jude said.

Maya swallowed hard, taking a few hesitant steps forward. She was convinced she was about to be fired next.

"M-Mr. Lawson... I... congratulations on your..."

"You were the only person in this building who treated me with an ounce of respect," Jude interrupted, his tone softening slightly. "You covered my shifts when I was sick, and you actually bothered to learn my name."

Maya stared at him, bewildered. "I just... it was the right thing to do."

"And now it’s paying off," Jude smiled. "Starting right now, you are the new General Manager of Zenith Motors. I’ll have Victoria draft a new contract doubling your previous salary. The floor is yours to run as you see fit."

Maya’s jaw hit the floor. The rest of the staff stared at her with burning envy.

"Me?" Maya gasped.

A general manager position at a high-end dealership came with a life-changing salary and massive commission overrides.

"Jude... Mr. Lawson I don’t know what to say."

Before Maya could thank him again, Victoria stepped up next to Jude, covering her phone’s microphone with her hand.

"Mr. Lawson," Victoria whispered. "I just received a call from the front gate. The representatives from Belmont Enterprises have arrived for their scheduled real estate expansion meeting with the ’new owner’."

Jude’s smile widened into a grin.

He turned toward the doors just as a black sedan pulled up to the curb.

Arthur Belmont stepped out of the passenger side, adjusting his tie and looking incredibly serious.

A moment later, Trent Belmont stepped out of the driver’s side, looking exhausted but desperate to impress his father.

Neither of them had any idea that they were walking directly into the lion’s den...

"Perfect timing," Jude murmured, turning to Maya. "Clear the conference room. I have some guests."