My Bully Mocked Me in Front of the CEO So I Destroyed Her in Seven Languages Chapter 05

My Bully Mocked Me in Front of the CEO So I Destroyed Her in Seven Languages Chapter 05

My phone buzzed. Chloe.

“How was it? Did Wendy crash and burn?”

“The project is safe.”

“How? There’s no way she-wait. Was it you!”

“Talk later.”

“Hazel, you finally did it!!!”

I hung up.

I stood at the exit of the garage. The autumn wind was biting.

I didn’t want the spotlight.

I really didn’t.

But I also didn’t want to be out of a job.

Next morning, I barely hit my desk before Wendy was already in Joseph’s office.

The door was shut, but I could hear her voice.

“Joseph, Hazel spoke out of turn. She completely ignored the chain of command!”

Joseph’s voice cut through. “Is the deal safe?”

“It’s safe, but that’s not-”

“Then that’s all I care about. This East Ridge deal is worth forty million. If it had gone south yesterday, the entire department would be out on the street.”

Wendy was quiet for a beat.

“Joseph, she lied. Her resume only lists French, but she’s clearly fluent in German. That’s ‘resume fraud’, isn’t it?”

“Did she ever say she ‘couldn’t’ speak German?”

“Well… she didn’t say it outright, but it’s not on her-”

“Since when does a resume cover every single thing a person can do? My resume doesn’t say I can play golf, but that doesn’t mean I don’t own clubs.”

Wendy was speechless.

“That’s enough. Get back to work.”

The door swung open.

Wendy walked out and caught my eye for a split second.

Her face said it all: “This isn’t over.”

At 10 AM, Julian came down to the department.

He walked up to my desk, his look unreadable.

“Hazel, your German… how good is it, really?”

“Functional.”

“Functional? I heard you were perfectly fluent in German and even threw in some Arabic.”

“Just conversational.”

“Conversational?”

He stared at me for five long seconds.

“Do you know what it costs to hire a multilingual pro like you? At least two hundred and fifty grand a year. And you’ve been sitting here on eighty for three years.”

“I have no complaints about my salary.”

Julian gave me a long, hard look.

“Fine. Conference room at 2 PM. We need you to ‘run point’ on the follow-up for East Ridge.”

He left.

Wendy bolted upright.

“Julian! I’m the one running this project!”

Julian didn’t even turn around.

“You’re still on it, but Hazel is handling the coordination. Those are Joseph’s orders.”

Wendy’s face went white.

She turned her gaze to me.

“Happy now, Hazel?”

“Ms. Miller, I’m just—”

“You’re just what? You think one afternoon in the spotlight puts you on my level?”

“I never said that.”

“I’ve been at this company for seven years. I worked my way up from intern to lead. What are you? Just a liar who’s been playing dumb.”

There were six people in the office, and every single one was watching us.

I didn’t talk back.

“Just you wait.”

Wendy grabbed her bag and walked out.

My Slack was blowing up with messages from Chloe.

“I heard Wendy was screaming at you in the office! Why didn’t you snap back!”

“There was no point.”

“You have the patience of a saint. Anyway, I just heard-Caleb from East Ridge called Joseph this morning. He specifically requested ‘you’ for all the follow-up work.”

I froze.

“Specifically requested?”

“Yep! Pointed a finger right at you! Hahaha, Wendy must be losing her mind!!”

At 2 PM, I headed to the conference room.

Joseph, Julian, Wendy, and two from legal were already there.

Joseph looked at me.

“Hazel, Mr. Sterling specifically requested you as the lead translator for the rest of the East Ridge deal. Starting today. you’re officially part of the task force.”

“Fine.”

“But your title remains entry-level and your salary stays the same. We’ll re-evaluate once the deal is closed.”

“Fine.”

Wendy gave a cold scoff but stayed quiet.

We discussed the coordination plan.

The East Ridge deal has three phases. The framework is done. Now comes the fine print and the contract translations.

All documents need versions in German and French.

“Hazel, can you handle both language versions at once?” Julian asked.

“Yes.”

Wendy cut in. “Both languages? Her resume says she’s a native French speaker, and that’s it. Her German level is a

total mystery. What if she screws up?”

“Yesterday’s meeting proved her level,” Joseph said. “Anything else?”

Wendy shut up.

After the meeting, I went back to my desk.

I opened my email. East Ridge had sent over the first batch of files.

Sixty-two pages, all in German.

It took me two hours to “crunch” the French version.

Wendy walked past three times, her eyes lingering on my screen each time..

On the third pass, she said, “Working that fast, aren’t you worried about errors?”

“No.”

“You’d better hope not.”

At 8 PM, I sent the translations to Julian.

He hit me back ten minutes later: “Speed and quality are both off the charts.”

Then he added: “Hazel, what the hell have you been doing with yourself for the last three years?”

I didn’t answer.

I went home to feed Mochi. Then my phone rang.

Unknown number.

“Hazel Lewis?”

A man’s voice. Low and steady.

It was Caleb.

“This is Caleb Sterling. Julian gave me your number.”

“Mr. Sterling, is something wrong?”

“I reviewed those sixty-two pages you translated today.”

“Is there an issue?”

“None. It’s the most accurate German business translation I’ve seen in years.”

“Thank you.”

“You aren’t ‘entry-level’ material.”

“My current title is entry-level.”

“I know,” he paused. “Which is why I’m curious.”

I stayed silent.

“East Ridge has an internal meeting tomorrow afternoon regarding vendor selection. I need an Arabic translator on

site.”

“That should go through official channels-”

“I’m aware. But I’m asking you directly: can you make it?”

I hesitated for a second.

“I can.”

I hung up, and Mochi jumped onto my lap.

“Your owner is about to be exposed.”

Mochi just yawned.