Reset without email/password used to setup MacBook Air M2

I worked for a small ag dealership. The owners provided me a MacBook Air M2, circa 2023. I left them (on good terms) to another company and gave them the password. Now, here we are a year later and they called wanting to know the password and have it stuck in Recovery Mode. Today, we met up and they gave me the MacBook for a few days to see if I could recover it so they can use it. The issue is, it was setup to an email address on appleid.com that no longer exists since they deleted it when I left as well as the phone number for the cell phone I had when I was employed there. I downloaded the Apple Support app on my iPhone and did the Help Someone Else and can get it to send a code but it is going to the non-existent email address. When I power the MacBook on and hold the power button until I get the Options, I can connect it to my WiFi and it will not Activate with an error that the activation server cannot be reached. When I click the apple, there is no startup disk. Now I am confused. So, is there a way to just reformat the thing. There is no data on it, I used the cloud for everything. Can I plug USB-C from my personal MacBook to USB-C on this MacBook and do anything like format the disk like it is an external disk? I don't know, I am just reaching here now.