My Bully Mocked Me in Front of the CEO So I Destroyed Her in Seven Languages Chapter 01

My Bully Mocked Me in Front of the CEO So I Destroyed Her in Seven Languages Chapter 01

I’m fluent in eight languages-but on my résumé, I only listed a “Level 8” certification in French.

My coworker. Also my bully. Mock my work, treat me like I’m worthless.

Until one day, the CEO’s biggest client walked in speaking German. She panicked. The deal was falling apart.

I had two choices: stay hidden, or save the day.

I opened my mouth-and shocked the entire room.

Now he’s offering me her job. Her office. And a position at his side.

She thought she buried me. She just made me his.

I’m fluent in eight languages.

German, French, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Arabic-and of course, my mother tongue, English.

But in the three years I’ve been at Global Trade Solutions, my resume only lists one thing: a “Level 8” certification in

French.

The reason is simple.

My dad was a diplomat and my mom was a simultaneous interpreter. I grew up drifting through seven different

countries, so linguistic talent is literally etched into my DNA.

But they died in a car crash five years ago.

I don’t want to use that stuff to show off, and I definitely don’t want people digging into my past just to offer me pity.

I just want to stay under the radar as a low-level translator, earn a steady paycheck, rent a small apartment, and raise

a cat.

Until the night of the annual gala.

The company gala was in full swing, and everyone was there. Our CEO, Joseph Harrison, stood on stage in a designer suit, looking smug as hell.

He spent ten minutes droning on about “gratitude”, “future visions”, and “all being in the same boat”.

Then, he suddenly switched to German.

“Next year, I’m giving a seventy percent raise to everyone in this room who speaks German.”

Out of the two hundred people in the audience, most couldn’t understand a word, so they just kept clapping.

But I caught it.

Sitting next to me was Wendy Miller, the head of the German team. As soon as she heard that sentence, her whole face

lit up.

She turned to look at me.

“Hazel, did you catch that?”

I shook my head.

“No. I don’t know German.”

Wendy laughed.

It was that kind of laugh I knew all too well-pure, condescending superiority.

“Right. You’ve only got that French certificate, and your salary is stuck at eighty grand a year. How pathetic.”

I didn’t say a word.

A seventy percent raise. Between the six people on the German team and Joseph himself, only seven people would be getting that money.

Nothing to do with me.

I told myself, “It’s got nothing to do with me.”

When the gala ended, I packed up my things to head out.

My phone buzzed, it was a text from my only friend, Chloe Sims.

“Hazel!!! You totally understood that German bit the boss just dropped, didn’t you?? Seventy percent! Why didn’t you raise your hand!”

Chloe works in HR. She accidentally found out I speak German last year when she caught me reading an original French novel in the breakroom.

I told her to keep it a secret, and it’s been a real struggle for her.

“Cut it out. I’m not trying to get exposed.”

“Are you out of your mind? Seventy percent! You’re making eighty a year, after the raise, that’s a hundred and thirty-six thousand! The heater in that crappy apartment of yours doesn’t even work!”

I tucked my phone away.

I walked to the elevator, and Joseph was there waiting too.

Our VP, Julian Croft, was standing next to him, and the two were chatting in German.

“That was a good move. Only the German team caught it, so basically, only the core team gets the raise while everyone else thinks I’m just ‘selling a dream’.”

Joseph laughed.

“If you’re gonna sell a dream, you gotta do it with style. Doing it in German makes me look like I’ve got ‘international

vision’.”

Julian laughed along.

“A low-level translator like Hazel Levis… she’s only worth eighty grand for the rest of her life.”

The elevator arrived.

I stood behind them and walked in with a deadpan expression.

They kept talking in German.

“Who are we sending to the East Ridge Group meeting next week?”

“Probably Wendy. Her German is the best.”

“I heard the CEO at East Ridge, Mr. Sterling, is a real nightmare. Last time they worked with Apex, he literally screamed their translator out of the conference room.”

“It’s fine. Wendy can handle it.”

The elevator hit the lobby.

I stepped out first.

Joseph said to me from behind, “Hazel, get me the proofread draft of that French-to-English contract from last week by tomorrow.”

“Sure thing, Mr. Harrison.”