The neon glow of the monitor reflected in Elias’s tired eyes as he stared at the search bar. One phrase was burned into his mind:

His heart hammered against his ribs. How did it know his name?

Suddenly, his cursor began moving on its own. It didn't open the PDF editor. Instead, it opened his email. It started drafting a message to his firm’s biggest client, attaching not the blueprints, but a folder labeled Private_Bank_Records .

The download was fast. Too fast. He unzipped the file, expecting a simple crack, but instead, a window popped up with a single line of text: “Nothing is truly free, Elias.”