Finn hoped his immeasurable disappointment didn’t show on his face. “What about him?”
“Our conversation at the diner got me thinking.” Elena crossed her arms. “When they shortened our deadline the first time, they gave me some vague explanation about ‘budgetary constraints.’”
Finn nodded. Obviously, he’d been painfully aware of the deadline cut. But the details behind it had always been murky.
“But here’s the thing—” Elena paused. “Have you heard anything about David’s company having financial problems?”
“Not really. If anything, it seems like they’re doing quite well. Why?”
“Because I looked into it. The company had record profits last year. The funding for the Institute should be stable. So where are these budget constraints?”
Finn’s eyes narrowed. “You think they lied?”
“I think the numbers were manipulated. I just can’t see why yet.” Elena paused. “So I’m going to dig deeper into Bridgepoint’s financial records and the funding allocated to research. I just need to find the paper trail.”
Finn paced around the room, processing. “Okay. How can I help?”
“The previous research directors.” Elena’s expressionsharpened. “The last two only lasted four years. What happened there?”
“You want me to go through their files.”
Elena nodded. “Everything. Patient data, project timelines, success rates. If we can prove there’s a pattern, it will support our case against David.”
It was a good plan. A smart plan. It was also completely insane.
“Elena.” Finn stopped pacing. “We have less than a week until the presentation.”
“I know.”
“Those files areyearsof data. It’ll take me days just to sort through it all.” He met her eyes. “If I do this, I won’t have time to work on our actual research. Which means if this doesn’t work…”
“We fail.” Elena’s voice was steady. “I know what I’m asking.”
Finn looked at her. The woman who’d been drowning under the impossible workload was gone. She made her decision, and she wasn’t second-guessing it.
“If we just focus on the presentation,” Elena continued, “we’re just playing David’s game. We’ll work ourselves to death, maybe deliver something decent, and he’ll find a reason to discredit it. You know he will.”
He did know. David never missed an opportunity to make their lives more difficult. He just didn’t know why.
“But if we stop playing defense—” Elena took a step toward to him. “If we can prove what he’s been doing, it doesn’t matter how the presentation goes. We take back our power.”
Finn ran a hand through his hair. “It’s a hell of a gamble.”
Elena was even closer now. He could see the focus in her eyes as she looked up at him. “Do you remember when youfirst pitched this protocol to me? The one that could either revolutionize the treatment or end both of our careers?”
“I remember you thought I was insane.”
A small smile flashed across her face. “You asked me to trust you.” She paused. “And I did. I trusted you.”
Finn’s chest tightened. He knew where this was going.
“Now I am asking you to trust me.” Elena’s voice dropped lower in a way that made his heart race. “Can you do that?”
The conference room felt impossibly small. Finn was aware of how close they were standing, of the locked door, of the closed blinds shutting out the rest of the world.
“Yeah,” he said quietly. “I trust you.”
Relief washed over Elena’s face. “Thank you.”
