Chapter 11: The Unraveling

Isaac's life was meticulously organized. He had control over every facet of his digital empire. Or so he thought.

The cryptic message from the unknown hacker lingered in his mind, gnawing at his sense of security. Isaac had spent the last few days working tirelessly, fortifying his firewalls and rerouting his network connections, but no matter what he did, the feeling persisted—someone was watching him.

Then, the first cracks appeared.

Isaac received reports from his algorithm: minor errors, a few delayed responses, and some corrupted data. At first, he dismissed them as anomalies, but they became more frequent. Systems he'd carefully hacked into were starting to patch themselves, closing vulnerabilities his algorithm had exploited.

The hacker wasn't just watching. They were countering him. Silently, methodically.

For the first time, Isaac felt his control slipping.