Chapter 45: A Day Off [1]

While Google tried finding a way to get in touch with him, Ethan was busy celebrating his success a little different than he expected.

"Y’know... you’re really, really handsome..." Lillian said. The blush on her cheeks and her slurred voice made it clear that she was drunk.

Her arms were wrapped around Ethan’s neck as her face inched closer towards his, her pink lips parting slightly and aimed for his.

It was obvious what she was about to do—but how had things escalated to this point in the first place?

------------A few hours ago------------

Ethan groggily made his way to the kitchen, his sluggish steps betraying the fact that he had only just woken up.

For the past few days leading to Sentinel’s launch, he had barely gotten any sleep, if at all.

Between anticipating Nathaniel’s moves, pulling James Brock down and making sure nothing went wrong he had barely gotten any sleep, the adrenaline had kept him going longer than he thought possible.

Now that Sentinel’s launch had finally passed, exhaustion had crashed into him like a freight train.

Then again, he only had himself to blame for the exhaustion, he’d been too stubborn to let Athena handle everything like she was designed to.

Since this was his first time launching a product to the public after his regression, he wanted complete control over every single detail.

Not because he didn’t trust Athena’s capabilities, far from it. It was about proving something to himself. It was about assuring himself that he was on a right track, that this second chance won’t be wasted.



But amidst all that, he seemed to forget that, regressor or not, he was still a biological being—one that needed sleep like everyone else.

Maybe it was something he needed to fix in the future.

Ethan slowly rubbed his eyes, placed his phone on the counter, and reached for the coffee pot, pouring himself a generous amount.

He normally wasn’t much of a coffee person, his sweet tooth usually had him preferring cocoa or sugary drinks instead, but today called for something stronger.

He brought the cup to his lips, wincing slightly at the bitter taste before forcing it down.

At least it helped with his foggy mind.

Ethan leaned against the counter with the cup in hand as he stared out the kitchen window.

The sun had barely risen, casting a soft amber hue over the lower neighboring rooftops.

It was really quiet, but after the chaos of this week, Ethan gladly welcomed it.

"What are the numbers like, Athena?" He spoke to seemingly no one, when his phone suddenly lit up.

Athena’s voice came through the speakers as she responded in a professional tone.

{Initial projections have been exceeded. Interest from the waitlist is 37% above forecast, indicating a strong acquisition rate once Sentinel officially launches.}

{Social sentiment is also currently 81.4% positive. There are over 12,000 active discussions about Sentinel across major platforms.} She added.

Ethan calmly nodded. The surge in attention didn’t surprise him, he knew exactly how groundbreaking Sentinel was.

Even in his original timeline, where technology had advanced far beyond the present, a system like Sentinel would’ve caused a stir, perhaps even more than it did now.

Athena continued the reports {the website traffic has spiked by 221% since the announcement. Waitlist signups crossed 180,000 overnight, with 64% of those waitlisters marked as enterprise or cybersecurity professionals. Several major tech blogs and influencers have begun coverage, citing Sentinel as "the next evolution in threat prevention."}

Ethan took another sip of his coffee, the taste getting better with every sip, "what about OmniTech Corp’s current market valuation?"

{Based on the private ticker we created for the public, OmniTech Corp’s valuation has risen to an estimated $137.4 million. Several investment groups have reached out to Mrs Hayes for meetings, including a private inquiry from the Sovereign Fund of Dubai.} Athena said, without missing a beat.

Getting all this was easy for Athena, especially with her access to the Internet and OmniTech Corp’s cyber infrastructure.

He placed the now-empty mug in the sink and stretched, a few joints popping as he did.

Of course, as a private company, OmniTech isn’t offering equity, yet media and investors are estimating based on potential plus Ethan wanted to know where he stood.

And it still felt surreal, watching himself grow this fast, this time around. But he couldn’t let it get to his head, this was only the beginning.

"Tell her to ignore any inquiries about equity or partnerships, we’re not ready to go public yet." he muttered, normally he’d have a grin on, but he was too tired this morning so he settled for a small smile.

{Understood.}



Athena paused briefly, before adding:

{Shall I categorize this morning under ’Rest and Recovery’? You haven’t taken a proper rest in 2 days, 6 hours, and 14 minutes.}

Ethan paused, instinctively ready to dismiss the suggestion, but for some reason, Athena’s reminder to rest made him think of María.

"I really should call her more often," he muttered to himself with a smile before replying to Athena’s question, "yes, mark today as a day off."

He then added, "text Lillian to also take a day off today, else Aria might chew my head off."

{Understood} she answered.

"Oh, and keep an eye on Nathaniel," Ethan said. "His team’s probably opened the dummy code by now—it should give you access to their systems."

Giving the Vigilants, and in turn Nathaniel, a code that seemed like Sentinel’s was not just a piss off tactics.

It was also the easiest way to get Athena into their systems without having to take the long route.

The seemingly safe code created to fill your screen with middle fingers (literally), had a tag on it which Athena could access later.

{Got it,} she responded again, {they’d probably try to launch it in a sandboxed environment. Once their system’s guardrails lower, I’ll escalate access permissions subtly, so it’ll only take a few minutes to access their systems.}

For some reason, it seemed like Athena was flexing her capabilities, but Ethan didn’t comment on it, after all, he was the one who added a personality.

{Oh, it seems they already accessed it} she commented as she felt the tag placed on the dummy code activate, {then this shouldn’t take long.}

With that, she went silent as she got to work.

A second later, the sound of a door opening and of approaching footsteps was heard by Ethan.

He didn’t move to check who it was though since he didn’t live alone anymore and from the distance of the sound, he knew exactly who it was.

Isabela peeked around the corner soon after, still in oversized pajamas and rubbing sleep from her eyes. "You’re up early," she mumbled, her voice also groggy

"I could say the same about you." Ethan answered before asking, "coffee?"

Isabella let out a yawn as she answered, "yes please."

Ethan poured a cup and handed it to her, "here you go," he said.

"Thanks," she replied as she got comfortable on a stool in the kitchen and took a sip of the bitter coffee.

Ethan watched her for a while before asking, "how’s your internship going?"

Isabela froze, her hand pausing with the cup just inches from her lips. The question was a simple one, but from the way Ethan looked at her, it seemed he knew exactly what her ’internship’ entail.

Or maybe it was just her imagination.

"It’s going well," she replied, "I’m learning a lot from it."



"I’m glad it’s going well," Ethan said, his tone light as he turned back to the counter. "Cybersecurity’s a pretty tight industry. Not a lot of room for error."

"Yeah," Isabela answered quickly. "But that’s what makes it fun."

Ethan chuckled at that, pouring himself a second cup as he seemed to have gotten. "Fun. Right."

There was a wave of silence in the kitchen, not the uncomfortable one but one that wasn’t normal either, until Ethan broke it.

"I’m curious," he started, "why did you choose Atlanta for your internship?"

The question made Isabela freeze again. This confirmed it, he knew. Even if he didn’t know exactly what she was doing, he knew something was off.

Her grip tightened slightly around the mug. She kept her expression as neutral as she could manage, but her brain was already going through a list of excuses, none of them were good enough.

She didn’t know what Ethan knew, or how much. And that uncertainty was more dangerous than if he’d outright accused her.

Still, she forced a small smile and shrugged. "I guess I just... wanted a change of pace? Atlanta’s got a growing tech scene. Plus Massachusetts was getting old and I needed a change of scenery."

"Makes sense," Ethan nodded, finished his cup of coffee before saying, ’alright then, I’ll be in my room, if you need anything."

He walked out of the kitchen, leaving behind Isabela who just stared at his retreating back with a small frown.

He definitely knew something.