Chapter 39: Apex Numbers Crushed

I walked back into the VIP suite after the track celebration. Peter was standing near the bar, trying his absolute best to fix his suit and hold onto whatever dignity he had left.

"Enjoy your little moment," Peter said, trying to sound cool, though his voice had a slight shake to it. "So you sold out a local drop. Congrats. Apex is a global giant. We launch worldwide, not in one single market. Honest truth? When I saw your product was only available in this country first, I realized what you are. You’re low on budget."

He pulled a leather pen from his coat pocket and looked at me like he was doing me a favor.

"Apex can buy Zenith out right now," he offered, leaning against the counter. "We’ll take the tech off your hands, cover your production costs, and give you a clean exit before you run out of cash trying to go global."

I couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

"You really don’t get it, do you Peter?" I said, walking up to the table. "We didn’t launch nationally because we were broke. We did it to starve the market. We built so much hype at home that the rest of the world is practically begging for a drop date."

I signaled Chloe, who turned her tablet screen directly toward him.

"Check the live figures," I said. "Our national sales just overshadowed Apex’s entire quarterly domestic revenue in less than two hours. And we haven’t even opened international orders yet."

Peter stared at the dashboard. The numbers were brutal. Zenith hadn’t just beaten Apex’s daily sales—it had completely crushed them.

"This isn’t the end of our campaign, Peter," I said, leaning in close. "This was just the warm-up. Zenith is going global next, and we’re taking every single one of your customers with us."

Peter didn’t say a word. He just slowly put his pen back into his pocket, his face completely pale.

We didn’t waste a single second. While the hype from May’s world record was at an absolute fever pitch, Tiana hit the button on our global countdown campaign.

The main Zenith site updated with a sleek, high-contrast timer: GLOBAL DROP IN 14 DAYS. The worldwide waitlist instantly exploded, hitting over two million email sign-ups in under an hour. International buyers were practically begging for a piece of the gear.

After handling the press release, I headed back down to the private athlete lounge to check on May.

She was sitting on a training bench with her gold medal sitting beside her, already lacing up her slides. Her face lit up the moment I walked through the door.

"Tell me you saw the board!" May beamed, bouncing on the bench. "9.72! I can cut another point off that time. I swear I can. When’s the next event? I want to get back on the track right now."

"Hold your horses, world champion," I laughed, walking over and eyeing her foot. "How’s the toe actually feeling?"

May winced just a tiny bit, rubbing the top of her wrapped foot, but kept that bright, unshakeable grin on her face.

"Okay, maybe I pushed myself a little hard on that final push-off," she admitted softly, shrugging her shoulders. "The new spikes took all the pressure, but my muscles are definitely feeling it."

I leaned down, picked up her gold medal, and handed it to her with a nod.

"You just shattered the world record, proved Apex wrong, and helped us sell out our entire launch in one afternoon," I said gently. "You don’t need to run anywhere tomorrow. You deserve a real rest."

May took the medal, looking at her reflection in the gold surface, and finally let out a long, relaxed sigh.

"Yeah," she smiled, leaning her head back against the wall. "I guess I kind of do."

The final 24-hour tally came in, and the numbers were completely absurd.

We sold 200,000 units in a single day. Zenith’s brand stock value skyrocketed overnight, sending shockwaves through the entire athletic industry. After covering production, logistics, and overhead, our net profit for the launch landed at an insane $75 million.

Tiana handled the distribution, and my 45% share hit my account directly—a clean $33.75 million payday off one single, masterfully executed campaign.

Chloe brought up the financial summary on her tablet while we sat in the penthouse suite, showing the official payout confirmation alongside Apex Global’s crashing market stock.

"Apex’s board of directors is panicking," Chloe said, showing me the headlines. "Their stock dropped twelve percent this morning alone because of our sales numbers. Peter Pear is officially on the defensive."

May was lounging on the sofa, foot elevated, nursing a cold smoothie while staring at the gold medal on the coffee table. She glanced over at my phone as the bank notification popped up.

"Not bad for a day’s work," May smirked. "So, what does a brand-new multimillionaire do right before launching a global empire?"

"Honestly, I don’t even know yet," I told May with a laugh, tossing my phone onto the table.

Tiana stepped out onto the balcony, looking just as thrilled. Zenith had already taken care of all the corporate payouts—May got her massive athlete endorsement cut, securing her financial future in a single day.

I turned to Chloe. She’d been working overtime to keep our servers running and our metrics tight, so I pulled up my personal bank app and transferred a heavy bonus straight from my own pocket to her account.

Chloe looked down at her phone, her eyes going wide as the notification cleared. She covered her mouth, completely speechlessly staring at the screen.

It felt good—really good—to see the women who helped build this empire become completely financially independent overnight.

May was sitting on the couch, staring at her bank balance like it was a foreign language. She had never seen that many zeroes in her life.

"I... I don’t even know what to do with a million dollars," May admitted, holding her head in her hands, half-laughing and half-overwhelmed. "Do I buy a house? A fleet of cars? What do people even do with this?"

Chloe sat down next to her, a bright smile on her face as she looked up from her own phone.

"Well, for starters, you put most of it into low-risk investments so it grows," Chloe said smoothly. "As for me? This bonus just fully covers my tuition, my living expenses, and my master’s degree. I’m going back to finish my education without a single cent of debt."

"Look at us," Tiana smiled, raising her glass. "A world champion, a master’s student, an engineering lead, and the head of Zenith. Not bad for a team that Apex tried to bury forty-eight hours ago."

We all clinked our glasses together in the quiet of the penthouse. The victory was sweet, but we all knew the countdown timer on the main site was still ticking down.

Fourteen days until the global drop.

I pulled up my bank app to check my balance. With the $10 million I already had sitting in my account plus the $33.75 million payout from the launch, I was comfortably sitting at over $43.75 million.

The penthouse had been great for staying close to campus during the early days of Zenith, but now? I needed something permanent. Something that actually fit the lifestyle of a guy running a multi-million-dollar global brand.

I scrolled through my contacts and called my real estate agent, Ruby.

She picked up on the second ring. "Good afternoon! How can I help you today?"