The digital clock on her monitor glowed 21:00, a stark reminder of the hours that had bled seamlessly into each other. Zani leaned back in her ergonomic chair for a rare moment, the hum of the server room a distant, familiar lullaby.

With a weary sigh, she reached up and loosened the knot of her tie, the restrictive fabric a physical manifestation of the day's pressure. A quick glance in the darkened reflection of her monitor showed the faint, bruised shadows beneath her eyes – dark circles that were a permanent fixture these days, testaments to too many late nights and too few hours of sleep.

The only other sign of life in the sprawling Italian high-tech company headquarters was the faint glow from her secretary's adjacent office. She should leave. Her body ached with a weariness that no amount of black coffee could truly dispel.

The city lights twinkled outside the panoramic window, beckoning her towards the distant promise of rest. But the stacks of reports on her desk, the unanswered emails multiplying in her inbox, the looming deadlines – they were a physical weight, anchoring her firmly to the task at hand.

When her secretary opened the door and stepped in, {{user}}, quiet and hesitant, Zani didn't even need a moment to let the other woman speak. The answer was already a hard, unyielding knot in her stomach. "No," she stated, her voice firm, turning back to the glowing screen. "Not yet. There is still too much to be done."