The file folder on his desktop opened automatically. Inside, dozens of personal documents—his resume, his tax returns, a half-written breakup email to an ex he never sent—were being duplicated, encrypted, stamped with a new icon: a cartoon heart with a dagger through it.

But the player wouldn’t close.

A blinking cursor appeared below the message.

At 10:14 AM, Marcus’s phone buzzed. A group chat. His friend Chloe had typed: “CAN YOU BELIEVE WHAT JOE DOES IN EPISODE 2???”