My features formed into a scowl of disbelief.

Sensing my glare, his fleeting pools met me for a second. And the twitch at the corner of his lips made my fists into balls.

My attention wasn’t on the meeting, as I was too busy showing my displeasure. But a certain topic caught my ears.

“This is a matter of concern about how they seemed to have better plans than us in every presentation we’re making in our recent deals. It seems like they know exactly what will be our deficiency and they will work right on there,” the bald man beside Caleb stated, a frown set between his joined brows.

They were talking about a rival company of Valencian Corp. Some AR industries that competed in every deal this company approached.

Ace cocked his head. “What do you have in your mind about this?”

That man shifted in his chair, clearing his throat. “Umm, I think—”

“That we have someone among us leaking information.” Ace finished for him. It was more like a statement than a question. His jaw ticked as the bald man nodded. “Have you tried to find out who it is yet?”

The man visibly gulped. “We thought to discuss it with you first. And we were not sure how to find out the culprit.”

His lips curled in distaste. “You weren’t sure? Is that how you all are planning to run this company?”

The board members avoided his furious eyes, keeping mum.

I cleared my throat. “If you all don’t mind, I’d like to suggest something.”

Nervous flutters erupted in my stomach when everyone’s gaze fell on me once again. I had given interviews and presented presentations before the teachers and students back in the college, but talking here before these experienced businessmen professionally, was another thing.

His sharp glare softened as he gave me his sole attention.

“You don’t need to ask permission to speak up, Em. Say whatever you want to say,” Caleb encouraged me from the other side of the table.

Wetting my lower lip, I started. “To find out who’s behind this, can we do a discreet research on the backgrounds and recent activities of the people who are working directly with these projects? Because irrelevant staff won’t know much about the presentations to disclose.” When no one interrupted, I continued. “That way, if we find someone suspicious, we could easily replace them with someone more reliable and take legal actions against them once we get solid proof regarding their offense.”

An older man laughed out loud. “Good idea there, Ms. Hutton. But we can’t just go and start looking at everyone’s full history and recent activities. It’ll be too time-consuming. And whoever is doing it isn’t a fool. Once they find out about the investigation, they’ll get more careful with their moves.”