Chapter: 1840

Rachel pulled out her phone, opening her chat with Alberto. She hesitated, then typed a message and sent it.

"Mr. Gibson, are you aware of the data leak?"

Immediately after sending, she second-guessed the appropriateness of her question and quickly retracted the message.

However, Alberto had already seen and replied, "I know."

Rachel was surprised by how quickly he responded to her message. As she gazed at his two-word reply, she found herself imagining his face, picturing his expression as he read and replied to her message.

He was likely devoid of any expression.

"Rachel, I've emailed you the latest data analysis," Barnett informed her.

“Okay," Rachel replied, pulling herself back to the present. She opened her email.

Among the three new messages, two were data analyses from Barnett, and the third was from Klein.

Opening Klein's message, Rachel saw just three words.

"It is you."

It wasn't a question, nor a suspicion. It was almost an assertion.

Rachel immediately understood his implication. After the earlier heated discussion, another suspect had emerged in their midst—herself.

Rachel's eyes met Klein's across the room as she read the three words on her screen.

“What are you implying?" she asked.

Klein asked, “Did you leak the data?"

Klein's response was swift, not allowing Rachel time to look away.

Their gazes locked in the air, lingering for a long moment.

She broke the eye contact as Barnett awaited her response. "Rachel, is there a problem with the data?"

"No, everything's fine. I'll forward it to Mr. Gibson later," she replied, then turned her attention back to the computer screen, where Klein's message awaited. She typed her response. "No."

Klein replied with a smiley face.

Rachel was puzzled by his response. Was he teasing her, or did he actually have evidence suggesting she was the leaker? She needed to think about how to dispel any suspicion.

It was true; everyone was responsible for their own data.

However, there was another factor: besides Alberto, Rachel was the only person with access to all the project data.