Chapter 53 – The Empire Expands
The Malibu coastline shimmered under the soft glow of morning light as Jake stepped through the front door of Charlie's beach house. The chaos of Vegas was already fading into the background. Now, his mind was locked in again—ready to return to the rhythm of momentum, code, and numbers.
He set his bag down and moved straight to the living room computer. Within seconds, the screen came alive with graphs, charts, and live dashboards. FaceWorld was surging—user counts, ad revenue, engagement time—it was all climbing.
The FacePhone shipments had been greenlit. Distributors from across the country were finally starting to respond. He exhaled slowly, letting a smile tug at the edge of his mouth.
Everything was moving.
The door opened again behind him.
"We're home!" Alan called cheerfully as he stepped inside, still in his wrinkled Vegas attire. He was juggling a bag of half-unpacked souvenirs and what looked like a travel pillow shaped like a flamingo.
Jake turned slightly in his chair. "Have fun on your honeymoon?"
Alan grinned. "More like a honeymoon preview. But yes. Fantastic. Even better? We're house hunting."
Jake blinked. "Already?"
"Kandi found a few places she liked on the drive back. Condos, mostly. West Hollywood. One has a koi pond. I think I'm a koi pond guy."
Jake watched him lower himself into the couch like a man who'd just accepted a new destiny. "With what money?"
"Well, the jackpot, of course. But we're being… selective."
Jake turned back to the screen without a word. Through the reflection in the monitor, he saw Kandi bounce through the door a moment later, arms full of shopping bags, all designer.
"Jakey!" she chirped, "Do you think rose gold goes with velvet? I bought a bench. I'm gonna put it in the entry foyer." She emphasized the word like it was exotic.
Jake didn't answer. He just nodded politely, watching her disappear down the hallway in a blur of expensive fabric and high heels.
Alan leaned in from the couch, whispering like it was classified information. "She has an eye for quality, huh?"
Jake gave a slow, neutral smile.
No income. No budget. No idea how fast half a million dollars can evaporate in Los Angeles.
But Jake didn't say any of that. He simply turned back to his computer, opened a new tab, and pulled up the FacePhone logistics dashboard.
He'd seen enough sitcoms to know how this story usually played out.
And for now? He was just going to let it.
By mid-morning, Jake was back in full control mode.
He sat at the living room computer, fingers flying over the keyboard while the wall clock ticked steadily behind him. A web of tabs lined his screen—server dashboards, distributor agreements, UI feedback forums, internal bug reports. FaceWorld was growing faster than projected, and the FacePhone rollout had triggered another surge in demand.
A soft ping brought up a system alert:
> Server Load: 87% Capacity
> Active Users (Live): 92,684,213
Jake squinted at the number. "We're gonna break 100 million before the end of the quarter…"
That thought should have filled him with pride, but instead it brought a dull weight to his chest. The infrastructure they'd built was impressive—miraculous, even—but it wasn't built for this.
He opened a video call with his COO, Callum, who appeared instantly on-screen, bleary-eyed with a coffee mug in one hand and a whiteboard behind him packed with scribbles and diagrams.
"You see the numbers?" Jake asked.
Callum nodded. "Yeah. It's getting aggressive. Our server guys are running emergency load balancing scripts just to buy us time. We need to finalize the next warehouse site in Texas and bring up those backup clusters."
"Today," Jake said flatly.
"Today," Callum agreed. "Also—Asia's picking up faster than expected. We've got a distributor in Japan who wants an exclusive on the FacePhone."
Jake leaned back. "Let's talk after lunch. I don't want exclusives—not yet."
"And SoundStack?"
Jake sighed. "Still no licensing approvals from the majors. Sony's stonewalling, and Universal wants equity."
Callum winced. "Of course they do."
"I'm not giving it. Not yet." Jake tapped his fingers against the desk. "Have Sam and the legal team line up meetings with every indie label we can find. Start building a volume-based licensing model. If we can't buy the big dogs, we drown them in quality B-sides and cult hits."
Callum grinned. "That sounds like Jake."
Before Jake could reply, another message blinked across the screen—FacePhone shipment confirmations. Target, Best Buy, and CompUSA were reporting early stock arrivals.
He clicked through, scanning photos of boxed inventory: clean, simple packaging marked with the FaceWorld logo and the product name beneath: FacePhone.
It was real. Tangible. Shipping.
Jake exhaled.
---
He pushed back from the desk, stretched, and stood. His legs were stiff, and his brain buzzed with checklists and revenue forecasts.
Still in pajamas, he walked into the kitchen and poured a glass of orange juice.
Across the counter, Charlie flipped an omelet like it was an Olympic sport, humming to himself in boxer shorts and sunglasses.
"You look like a Wall Street wolf trapped in a kid's body," Charlie said casually.
Jake sipped. "We're shipping to 47 states and three countries by next week."
Charlie blinked. "That's either incredible or horrifying. You get any sleep?"
Jake shrugged. "Define sleep."
Charlie chuckled. "Kid, don't burn out before puberty finishes. The world can wait."
"Tell that to 92 million users."
Charlie flipped the omelet again and handed Jake a plate. "You know what? Fair."
By midweek, the FacePhone rollout was no longer a theory—it was a storm. Orders were being processed, distributors were stepping up, and Jake's team was barely keeping up with the backend scaling required to support the surge in new device activations.
Jake sat at his desk at his mom's house in Brentwood, now officially converted into his home office. Dual monitors, whiteboards full of diagrams and contacts, and a giant server heat map glowed softly behind him. His inbox was exploding—requests from journalists, distribution offers, software integration pitches, even early murmurs of international expansion.
"Let's pace it," Jake muttered to himself as he typed. "Too fast and it breaks."
He opened a video call with one of his logistics coordinators in Texas. The guy looked like he hadn't slept in two days.
"We've got commitments from Target, RadioShack, and Best Buy regional managers," the coordinator reported. "Biggest issue is supply. You need to push manufacturing harder."
Jake nodded. "I'll deal with the supplier today. Set aside enough inventory for a soft international pilot next month—Canada and UK. But quietly. No leaks."
"You got it."
Jake ended the call and leaned back, rubbing his eyes. The FacePhone wasn't just a device anymore—it was a proving ground for everything FaceWorld stood for. And if it worked, he knew exactly what came next: platform dominance.
His thoughts were interrupted by the notification of another call—this time from one of the licensing consultants working on SoundStack.
He clicked to answer. "Tell me something good."
"We're getting closer," the man said. "Universal's the toughest nut to crack, but we've got movement. Warner and Sony want in. They know something's coming. It's about leverage now."
"Do it," Jake said immediately. "Build the case. We'll outbid iTunes if we have to."
"iTunes hasn't even entered streaming yet."
Jake smiled. "Exactly."
He hung up and opened his SoundStack dashboard—empty but built, waiting to go live with its first licensed tracks. He already had the tech. Now it was just politics and paperwork.
As he scrolled through upcoming meetings, something caught his eye: a message from a distributor in Japan. It was brief, polite, and curious: they wanted to carry the FacePhone—and they were willing to fly to Los Angeles to discuss exclusivity.
Jake bookmarked it and flagged it red. That was a big play.
He turned toward his window, gazing out at the backyard hedges. A breeze rolled in from the Pacific, and with it came the faint hum of possibility.
It was only March, but Jake already had one foot planted in 2008.
And the world? The world was just starting to pay attention.
By Thursday evening, the Malibu sky was painted in deep golds and purples, the sun sinking low beyond the Pacific. Jake stood out on the patio, a warm breeze brushing through his hair as he nursed a cold root beer and listened to the crash of waves.
The last few days had been a whirlwind—FacePhone shipments arriving at warehouses, SoundStack licensing meetings penciled into next week's calendar, and FaceWorld's user count inching ever closer to the 100 million mark.
He hadn't even been able to check in with Haley since the weekend.
That thought must've triggered something in the universe, because his phone buzzed.
Haley Dunphy: Hey genius. You still saving the world one line of code at a time?
Jake smirked.
Jake: Not all heroes wear capes. Some of us wear pajamas and do server maintenance at 2am.
Haley: Sounds sexy.
Jake: Dangerously.
A pause. Then another message came through.
Haley: I miss you.
Jake's expression softened. He leaned against the balcony railing.
Jake: Me too. I've been thinking about you a lot.
Haley: You better be. I'm turning 12 soon and expect nothing less than a gift worthy of a tech prodigy boyfriend.
Jake grinned.
Jake: Done. Can I deliver it in person?
Haley: Only if my mom doesn't freak out. She caught Alex practicing sarcastic responses to you. I think she's jealous.
Jake: Tell her I'm immune. I work with sarcastic engineers every day.
They chatted for a few more minutes—jokes, little nothings, the kind of easy banter that felt increasingly rare in Jake's world.
After they said goodnight, Jake stood there a little longer, letting the night settle in.
His company was growing faster than he could track. The FacePhone was about to go mainstream. SoundStack was nearly ready for a licensing breakthrough. Distributors were eager. The media was circling again.
But in this moment—alone on the patio, a warm ocean breeze at his back—he didn't feel like a CEO or a tech mogul.
He felt like a 13-year-old boy who liked a girl… and for now, that was more than enough.