Chapter 3

3.

That night, the building’s group chat exploded. Linda posted six voice notes in a row.

“Listen up, neighbors. Artie fixing computers is a nice gesture, but he’s not licensed. That’s a fact. If he loses your data or breaks your machine, who’s going to pay for it?”

“And don’t you all wonder if he’s doing this for free just to trap us later? My Leo’s laptop broke, and Artie immediately demanded eleven hundred dollars.”

“I’m just asking―unlicensed work and charging for materials? Isn’t that an illegal business operation?”

The chat went silent for a few seconds. Harvey was the first to reply.

“Linda, Artie has helped me dozens of times and never took a penny. He’s come over in his slippers at midnight to fix my router. Where is your damn conscience?”

Linda replied instantly. “Harvey, what he did for you is between you two. But he asked me for eleven hundred dollars. That’s the truth.”

“Because your drive is failing! He needs to buy a software license!”

“Money is money. It doesn’t matter what he calls it!”

Harvey stopped replying.

Mrs. Higgins from the third floor chimed in. “I think Linda has a point. A license is a license. What if something goes wrong?”

“Yeah, I’m with Linda. It’s better to be safe,” another neighbor added.

I sat in my living room, my phone screen glowing. Messages kept scrolling up.

I didn’t reply. Not once.

The next morning, Linda cornered me in the hallway. She was holding a sheet of paper covered in signatures.

“Artie, I assume you saw the chat?” She thrust the paper toward me. “If you recover Leo’s data for free, I’ll drop the whole license thing. Let’s just let this go, okay?”

I took the paper. Eight signatures.

Half of them were renters who had moved in recently and barely knew me. The others were neighbors I had helped just months ago.

“Linda, you got eight people to sign this just to blackmail me into fixing a hard drive for free?”

“It’s not blackmail,” Linda corrected me. “It’s a deal. You help me, and I keep my mouth shut. You don’t, and I report you.”

“Report me for what?”

“Operating an unlicensed repair business for profit.”

I looked at her for a long time, saying nothing. I folded the paper and shoved it back into her hand.

“Linda, remember what you just said. Every word of it.”

I turned and walked up the stairs.

“Artie!” she screamed from below. “Don’t you dare regret this!”

I didn’t answer.