The Love Game

What was going on with him? He didn’t seem or sound like the friend and colleague to whom she’d bid good-night yesterday, much less the lover with whom she’d spent the night during the convention in San Diego.

Iris hesitated. “He was unhappy when he didn’t get your product launch. I think convincing someone on your team to email the old test results to him, then leaking that information to the media, is his way of getting back at us.”

“Who did he convince to help him?”

“We’ll know once you get the results of the email investigation.”

Tyler was silent for several seconds. The look in his ebony eyes was distant, considering. Cool. “I have the results. They came earlier than expected.”

Her heart leaped. This was good news. It meant the mystery was over. But it was also bad news. Now they’d know who’d broken their trust. Over the past three months, she’d gotten to know several of the Anderson Adventures associates well. She hoped with all her heart it hadn’t been any of them.

Iris sat straighter on the chair, bracing herself for the news. “Who was it?”

Tyler held her gaze as though trying to read her mind. “It was you, Iris. You were the leak.”

Chapter 13

He was serious.

Iris’s head spun as though she were in a tire, racing down a hill. Too fast. Her ears were buzzing. She couldn’t catch her breath. Her heart thundered as though it would burst from her chest.

“What are you talking about?” She gasped the question. Her voice sounded so far away.

“The search of our email system found this transmission.” Tyler slid a sheet of paper across the glass surface of his desk.

Iris leaned forward. Her hand shook as she accepted the document. The transmission was from her email account at Anderson Adventures to Ryan Tipper at The Gamer’s Seat. Iris looked up at Tyler in shock. His face remained expressionless.

Does he really believe me capable of this?

She returned her attention to the email printout. It was sent at 11:53 a.m. on May 21, about two weeks before the industry convention in San Diego. She struggled to read it as the paper shook in her grasp, causing the words to bounce before her eyes. The message claimed that she’d attached a pdf of the “Osiris’s Journey” test results because she wanted Tipper to expose “the fraud Anderson Adventures was about to perpetrate on consumers.”

I’m in the middle of a nightmare.

“This doesn’t even sound like me.” She hadn’t realized she’d said the words out loud until Tyler spoke.

“What do you mean?”

She looked into his cold eyes. He was so still, so watchful. I’m on trial. “I didn’t send this.”

“It was sent from your computer through your email account.”

“Then someone else used my computer and my account to send this message.”

“Who?”

Iris spread her hands. She struggled to control her voice despite her increasing agitation. “I don’t know, Ty. All I do know is that I didn’t send this.”

Tyler finally moved, leaning into his desk to hold Iris’s gaze. “Only five people have key cards that can access all of the offices in this building: my father, my aunt, Xavier, Donovan and me. Are you accusing one of us of framing you?”

“I’m not accusing anyone.” Iris shook the sheet of paper as she was forced to repeat herself for the third time. “I’m telling you this isn’t me.”

“Even if someone else did manage to gain key-card access to your office, how would they get into your password-protected email system?”

Her heart dropped. “I don’t always remember to lock my computer.”

“Convenient.” Tyler sat back on his chair.

That hurt.