When Elias checked his server, the external drive wasn't humming—it was screaming. A high-pitched, digital whine. He turned on his monitor, but instead of his desktop, he found a single text file open: GIFT_FOR_YOU.txt .

He hovered his mouse over the download button. The comments below were a mix of "Thanks, works great!" from accounts created two hours ago and a single, ominous warning from a user named Void_Walker : "The backup works, but who is it backing up to?" Elias ignored the chill. He clicked.

“You wanted a backup,” the note read. “So we took everything. We’ve backed up your clients’ tax IDs, your personal bank logins, and the last three years of your emails to our own private cloud. If you want them back, the price is three times the original license.”