"Mr. Hastings, we investigated theputers of all three individuals per your instructions. On Serena''sputer, we found an email that had been sent out. The recipient has been verified. It was sent to Silverline Group, one of ourpetitors for the Excel Group project."


    The content of the email was projected onto the big screen. Sure enough, it contained the project proposal.


    "My god, it was really Serena?"


    "She''s really insatiable, isn''t she?"


    "I wonder how Mr. Hastings ns to handle this."


    The project team murmured among themselves, and their expressions ranged


    from sympathy to concern and even schadenfreude.


    "How much did she get in return for this?" Samson sneered.


    "I wasn''t the one who leaked the proposal." I stood up calmly. "When was this email sent?"


    "At 10:30 pm on the seventh."


    "I left work before 10:00 pm that night." I turned to Patricia. "We left together. After that, Samson was the only one who stayed in the office."


    "I stayed to revise the project." Samson sounded self-righteous. "Serena, just because you won''t admit what you did doesn''t mean you can pin it on me."


    "Is that so?" I let out a coldugh. "Then I request to check the surveince footage to see if you essed myputer."


    One of the IT staff nodded and started working on the system. As they did, they said, "The footage from the night of the seventh was originally lost, but luckily, we managed to recover it."


    "I... I did ess yourputer, but only to check some data." Samson''s voice wavered. "Emails can be scheduled to be sentter. Are you deliberately trying to frame me?"


    Alex, who had been silent, finally lifted his head and looked at us. The IT staff also stopped what they were doing. In that instant, I understood that the footage hadn''t been recovered at all. This was all orchestrated by Alex.


    He had set this up because he believed in me.


    A wave of gratitude surged within me, but I clenched my teeth. No matter what, I had to clear my name.


    "You... You never actually had the footage?" Samson realized it too.


    "That''s right," Oliver sneered. "But you already admitted it, didn''t you? You essed Serena''sputer."


    "I only looked at the data," Samson tried to argue.


    1.n


    "What data did you need that you couldn''t just call me for?" I scoffed. "Thepany policy clearly states that each person is assigned a personalputer. essing someone else''s without permission is a direct vition ofpany rules and thew."


    Samson was at a loss for words.


    "But I


    because I turned on et doesn''t mean I sent f " o


    "Mr. Hastings is giving you all a chance toe clean," Oliver interrupted coldly. "Whoever leaked the confidential information-if you admit it now, thepany won''t press charges. But if you insist on dragging this out, the legal


    department will handle it ordingly."


    All eyes turned toward me and Samson.


    I stood tall. "I have a clear conscience."


    Samson cleared his throat. "It wasn''t me either."


    "Serena really knows how to put up a strong front, doesn''t she?"


    "But honestly, Samson looks more like the guilty one. He''s clearly nervous."


    "I don''t even know who to believe anymore."


    The room buzzed with murmurs of spection.