Ethan barely acknowledged her, waving a hand dismissively. "Kinda have to. Unless you wanna help?"

    Vanessa scoffed. "Yeah, no thanks. I''m not a masochist."

    Ethan smirked but didn''t respond, his eyes fixed on the screen.

    Vanessa lingered for a moment longer, then stretched her arms over her head and stood up. "Alright, I''m leaving you to your nerd stuff."

    "Not nerd stuff," Ethan muttered absentmindedly.

    "Totally nerd stuff," she countered, walking off toward the kitchen.

    Ethan didn''t argue. He didn''t even have the mental bandwidth for it right now.

    His entire focus was on processing the flood of information on his screen.

    He worked tirelessly for hours, his only breaks consisting of grabbing a drink or stretching his arms before diving back in.

    The numbers continued to climb, and while that was great for business, it was a logistical nightmare.

    He needed to make sure their systems didn''t crash under the weight of it all.

    At one point, his vision started to blur. Ethan leaned back, rubbing his face with both hands.

    His body was stiff, his fingers sore from clicking non-stop.

    His phone buzzed on the desk. Zack''s name flashed across the screen.

    Ethan sighed and answered, putting the call on speaker. "Tell me you have good news."

    "Dude, take a break," Zack said immediately. "I swear, if you pass out again, Nobody''s hauling your ass to bed this time."

    Ethan exhaled through his nose. "Not an answer."

    "Fine. I got a team handling it. You don''t have to worry about sorting this mess anymore."

    Ethan blinked. "Wait, seriously?"

    "Yeah. We hired some temp staff, and they''re on it now. Go do literally anything else."

    Ethan glanced at his screen. The numbers were still climbing, but if Zack had a team on it, then he could step back for a bit.

    He let out a breath and leaned back in his chair. "Alright. You win."

    "Of course I win," Zack said smugly. "I''m always right."

    "Debatable," Ethan muttered.

    Zack snorted. "Go eat something, sleep, I don''t care. Just stop being a workaholic for five minutes."

    "Yeah, yeah," Ethan said, already standing up and stretching. "I''m done. You happy?"

    "Ecstatic." Zack paused. "And tell Vanessa I said she should keep an eye on you so you don''t pull this crap again."

    His fingers tightened around the phone.

    He took a slow breath, keeping his face neutral as he processed what this meant.

    If this was happening before the launch, then after? He had just unlocked a whole new level of financial freedom.

    Vanessa, who had been absentmindedly flipping through a magazine on the couch, suddenly looked up. "Why do you look weird?"

    Ethan quickly locked his phone and set it down, forcing a smirk. "I always look weird."

    Vanessa rolled her eyes. "No, I mean weirder than usual."

    "Just tired," he said smoothly, picking up his coffee and taking a sip to hide his expression. "Been staring at screens too long."

    She didn''t seem entirely convinced but shrugged, going back to her magazine.

    Ethan exhaled silently, keeping his excitement contained.

    He picked up his regular phone and dialed Zack. The phone rang twice before Zack picked up.

    "Yo. What''s up?" Zack sounded exhausted, probably from handling the last wave of registrations.

    Ethan kept his voice casual. "How''s everything looking?"

    "Finally under control," Zack replied, letting out a heavy sigh. "I think we survived the worst of it. Registrations are slowing down, and the system didn''t crash, so that''s a win."

    Ethan smirked. "Barely."

    "Hey, I take my victories where I can get them," Zack said. "Speaking of which, I checked the reports — our pre-launch revenue just spiked. We''re making crazy money, man."

    Ethan fought back a grin.

    ''Yeah, you have no idea.''

    "I swear," Zack continued, "if this is how much we''re pulling in before we even open, I can''t imagine what things are gonna look like after launch. This is gonna be huge."

    Ethan nodded. "Bigger than we even expected."

    "Dude, we have to celebrate," Zack said, his voice picking up excitement. "Dinner''s on you, obviously."

    Ethan rolled his eyes. "You just want free food."

    "Damn right I do."

    Vanessa, who had been listening to the conversation from her spot on the couch, scoffed. "Tell Zack I want dinner too."

    Ethan put the phone back to his ear. "Vanessa says she''s coming too."

    "Fine, fine, as long as she doesn''t make me pay," Zack grumbled.

    Ethan smirked. "You think I''m covering you, but you''re paying for her?"

    "Shit." Zack groaned. "Fine. But I''m getting the most expensive thing on the menu."