IVAN AND LUCINA RECEIVED the twenty thousand dollars cash from the group of Chargers that next week and went right to work preparing for the “Rights of Passage Birthday Bash at the Waterview.” It was to take place at a hotel venue off the San Diego Bay that held exactly three thousand in its grand ballroom. Lucina worked out a three-event deal with the management to help drive traffic back to their renovated hotel. She and Ivan then paid for an aggressive radio campaign. They printed ten thousand flyers to work the entire San Diego region, including the military bases. They set up the catering. They contracted a popular radio DJ for additional promotion, while still adding Red Face Lion to the flyer and website as a co-DJ—a deal Ivan had pushed in order to bring his young entrepreneur more marketing exposure. They sent out several email blasts, hired extra security for the star athletes, and paid for Lucina’s list of “girls,” for an exact budget of twelve thousand dollars.

“I told you,” Lucina gloated to Ivan.

Ivan grinned and was pleased to pocket his half of the eight thousand in cash that was left.

Lucina also had him post some of the more glamorous party photos of her and her girls on his website to solidify her crowd. Jeff and Paul were more than happy to do that. And they had finally talked Ivan into using a few imagery-branding photos of himself on the site.

“Trust us, Ivan. We want to make you the King Kong of the San Diego promotions game,” Jeff stated to him. “So just sit back, relax, and ride the wave.”

Ivan and Lucina rode the wave of their first major Saturday-night party to the tune of twenty-three hundred general paying customers, and another two hundred who paid double for VIP status. Including the athletes and their entourages, the place was packed to near capacity with a multicultural crowd. Hundreds more were turned away at the door.

Jeff and Paul documented it all with their digital cameras, especially the diversity of the crowd. They explained to Ivan that it was time to stretch to the largest possible audience for the website, particularly when dealing with San Diego–based advertisers. So Ivan finally agreed to it. He had no choice. Money was money.

“Now, this is a fucking party, man!” Jeff exclaimed. He even took pictures of the disgruntled crowd who never made it in.