The Love Game

“Can you turn back time?” Tyler visualized again the associates who’d gathered with him in the lounge nine hours earlier: Ted, Malek and the rest of his team. “There’s no way anyone can convince me our associates had anything to do with this.”

“If not them, then who?” Donovan spread his hands.

Tyler slouched back on his chair. “We could drive ourselves crazy, going around and around with that question.”

Xavier looked from Donovan to Tyler. “If we rule out everyone on the inside, who’s left?”

Donovan shifted on his seat to face Xavier. “Say what’s on your mind, X.”

Xavier shrugged his shoulders under his dark green shirt. “What do we know about Iris?”

Tyler tensed. Was Xavier accusing Iris of being the leak? “My father asked me to contact her.”

“That’s a pretty strong professional reference, if you ask me.” Donovan’s tone was dry.

“Why would she try to damage the release she’s working on?” Tyler hadn’t felt this violent toward his cousin since they were twelve.

“Maybe someone offered her money.” Xavier settled his hands on the arms of his chair.

Donovan’s eyes widened. “We offered her money.”

“Iris would never accept a bribe to betray a client.” Tyler would bet everything he had on that. She had too much integrity. “Besides, she doesn’t have access to the tests or their results. I’ve never shown her any of the documents.”

“She might have gotten them from someone else.” Xavier shrugged again.

“Which brings us back to the theory that an associate leaked sensitive information to an outside party.” Tyler shook his head. “I don’t believe our people would do that.”

Nor do I believe Iris would betray our trust.

“Where is this coming from, X?” Donovan looked at the vice president of finance as though he’d never seen him before. “This doesn’t sound like you.”

Tyler agreed. “You usually have more than speculation before you make accusations.”

Xavier met Tyler’s eyes. “I know you have a thing for her.”

Donovan tossed him a grin. “Good choice, by the way.”

Tyler tensed. “My attraction to Iris isn’t clouding my judgment.”

“Good.” Donovan nodded decisively. “Then we don’t have anything to worry about.”

“We have a big issue.” Xavier looked at Donovan. “The leak still hasn’t been found.”

“I’ve asked IT to search our email system to identify the account that sent the tests to Tipper.” Tyler didn’t want to invade his associates’ privacy but what else could he do? He needed to get to the bottom of this.

“I know the decision wasn’t an easy one for you.” Donovan sounded sympathetic. “Especially since this task will take them away from the final adjustments to ‘Osiris’s Journey’ before the release.”

“How long will the search take?” Xavier asked.

Tyler shook his head. “We’re just looking for transmissions between The Gamer’s Seat and Anderson Adventures. I should have something by tomorrow afternoon.”

“Are they checking every account?” It was obvious his cousin wanted to know whether Iris’s account was included in the search.

Tyler considered Xavier. These accusations were out of character. “Every account on the network.”

“Then for better and worse, this should be over tomorrow.” Xavier stood.

Donovan rose from his chair, as well. He looked concerned. “Don’t stay too late. There’s nothing we can do until tomorrow.”