He shook his head, pushing the thought aside. He had more important things to do.

    Reaching over, he grabbed his laptop and flipped it open, fingers typing quickly as he accessed the backend of the ATLAS website.

    Zack had handled most of the design, but Ethan still had to oversee operations.

    And right now? He needed to manage the reservations.

    He opened the dashboard, took a sip of his now-cold coffee, and nearly spit it out when he saw the number.

    [9,872 reservations.]

    Ethan blinked. Then he refreshed the page.

    [10,013 reservations.]

    "...You''ve gotta be kidding me."

    He rubbed his face with both hands.

    He hadn''t even officially launched the resort yet.

    No press release, no grand announcement — just some marketing, a few videos, and boom — ten thousand people were already throwing their money at ATLAS.

    Zack was gonna lose his mind when he saw this.

    Ethan exhaled, cracking his knuckles before getting to work.

    He had to sort out the reservations, assign rooms, and send out virtual tickets to everyone''s emails.

    It was a nightmare of logistics, but at least it meant they were making money.

    As he worked through the system, he saw the names of the people who booked.

    A few caught his attention:

    [John W. – VIP Suite, 5 nights]

    [Sophia R. – Deluxe Room, 3 nights]

    [Anonymous – Penthouse Suite, 2 weeks]

    Ethan frowned. Anonymous?

    Clicking on it, he saw that whoever booked the Penthouse Suite for two weeks had paid in full, left no contact details, and only had a single email for confirmation.

    Suspicious.

    "I swear, if some billionaire weirdo is planning to do some secret villain shit in my resort — " he muttered, shaking his head.

    Regardless, money was money.

    He kept going, assigning virtual tickets and emailing them out.

    Midway through, his phone buzzed again. He picked it up, expecting Zack.

    Instead, it was a random unknown number.

    Frowning, he answered. "Hello?"

    A smooth, confident voice replied. "Mr. Grey. This is Adrian Sinclair."

    Ethan blinked. "Uh... do I know you?"

    If he wasn''t careful, he''d wake up tomorrow with an inbox full of angry emails from people demanding their reservations be confirmed.

    "Alright, let''s do this."

    He rolled up his sleeves like he was about to engage in battle and got to work.

    [Three Hours Later...]

    Ethan was slumped in his chair, his fingers aching from clicking, typing, and sorting through reservation requests.

    He felt like he had personally stamped, folded, and hand-delivered every ticket.

    "How do people do this for a living?" he muttered

    Ethan groaned and stretched his arms, feeling every single joint pop like he was some ancient relic that had been sitting in a museum for centuries.

    His fingers ached from all the clicking and typing, his eyes burned from staring at the screen too long, and worst of all, he was starving.

    He cracked his knuckles and leaned back in his chair, squinting at the laptop screen.

    ''Alright, let''s see the results.''

    Hesitantly, he refreshed the reservations page.

    The number of people waiting in line for virtual tickets flashed on the screen.

    [98,724 pending requests.]

    Ethan slammed his laptop shut. "Nope. I''m out."

    He stood up so fast his chair nearly toppled over.

    There was no way he was dealing with that right now.

    He needed food, maybe a nap, and possibly a therapist to process what he''d just been through.

    Grabbing his phone, he wandered into the kitchen, muttering, "This is a tomorrow problem. Future Ethan can deal with this mess."

    He yanked open the fridge, staring blankly inside.

    "This is why I''m going to die young," he mumbled, grabbing a soda and shutting the fridge.

    As he cracked it open and took a sip, his phone vibrated in his hand.

    He glanced at the phone screen.

    [Melissa: You''re welcome, by the way.]

    Ethan frowned, typing back.

    [Ethan: ...For what?]

    A second later, she replied.

    [Melissa: For making your resort go viral, obviously. Now everyone wants a ticket, including people who just want to see you.]

    Ethan groaned.

    "Great. I''m a tourist attraction now."

    Before he could even type out a sarcastic response, another text popped up.

    [Melissa: Oh, and Adrian''s coming soon. Have fun with that.]