A message appeared in the center of his screen, replacing his desktop wallpaper:

Elias realized then that in the world of "free" downloads, the price isn't paid in currency—it's paid in . He didn't just get a pro license; he got a front-row seat to his own digital eviction.

Cold sweat pricked his neck. He watched, frozen, as his own face appeared in a small window—captured by his laptop's webcam. Next to his face, another window opened, showing his phone’s camera feed. It was pointed at his desk, at the notebook where he’d scribbled his bank passwords earlier that day.

The "crack" wasn't a tool for him; he was the one being cracked. The software was perfectly functional, mirroring his devices just as promised, but it was mirroring them to a server halfway across the world.