It's just there. Cole nodded. There will also, Victoria said more carefully, be the question of the car's ownership, which is genuinely complicated and will take time to resolve. You purchased a salvage vehicle at a legal auction. The original manufacturer's successor company has a contractual claim under the acquisition agreement.
Marsh's estate is effectively absent. It's going to require lawyers and time. She paused. But your name is on the auction record. Your documentation built this case.
That matters legally. I'm not doing this for the car, Cole said. Victoria was quiet. I mean it. I'd like to see it end up somewhere right.
A museum, a proper collection, somewhere it can be seen. That's what it deserves. He looked at it one more time. Marsh built it because he wanted it to exist. The least it can do is actually exist somewhere.
Victoria looked at him for a moment with that expression he'd seen from her a few times now. The one that had moved past professional assessment into something less defended. You're a strange person, Cole Bennett. Strange how? You could have taken the 500,000 6 weeks ago when the second offer came with Shaka's.
You could have taken it. It would have solved a lot of real problems. Yeah. But you didn't because because it would have made the car disappear. He said it simply, and it doesn't deserve to disappear.
Victoria held his gaze. Most people would say that's their kids college fund talking. Most people would be right. He paused. But it's both things.