His Secretary Mocked Me as Illiterate,Then I Bankrupted His Entire Empire

My fianc's foreign-educated assistant used French to humiliate me in front of every shareholder at the board meeting, calling me an illiterate waste.

Someone like Olive Henson, who crawled out of some backwater public high schoolif it weren't for me, a summa cum laude graduate from abroad, propping her up, this company would've been dead in the water ages ago.

"Instead of calling her 'Ms. Henson,' we should just call her what she isan illiterate mutt. God knows what kind of dumb luck she stumbled into. Someone as accomplished as me, working under her? It's a joke."

The shareholders exchanged glances, and after a moment, a few of them nodded along. They seemed to agree she had a point.

"See? We're insulting her in French right to her face, and she can't even understand. Ha!"

I was sitting right next to him. The rage hit me like a wall of heat, and before I could think twice, I grabbed my coffee and hurled it straight into Beulah Finch's face.

"Who says I don't understand French? You're the illiterate one."

Silence.

The boardroom froze. Every shareholder's eyes went wide, disbelief written across their faces as they turned to stare at me.

"Ms. Henson, you... you understand French?"

"That's impossible. She probably just caught a word or two by accident."

"She never even went to college. A public high school graduate from the sticks. She can barely speak Englishhow could she possibly know French?"

Fourteen pairs of eyes bore into me, skeptical, probing. I picked up a napkin, wiped my hands clean, and dropped it at the feet of Beulah, who stood there looking like she'd been slapped.

"Has it ever occurred to any of you that I might be hiding who I really am on purpose?"

The words barely left my mouth before Beulah's face twisted with humiliation and fury. She snatched the ashtray off the table and hurled it at me.

I dodged. The ashtray sailed past and shattered against a potted plant.

"Hiding who you really are?" She spat. "Give me a break."

"I dug up everything there is to know about you a long time ago."

"Olive Henson. A nobody from the backwoods. Parents dead. Got lucky with some sweepstakes money, took that little windfall and decided to play investor. And somehowby some miracle of dumb luckyou actually grew it into something."

With every word, her voice grew more bitter, more venomous. The jealousy was practically dripping off her.

So that was what this was about. She couldn't stand that someone she considered beneath her in every way had ended up on top.

"But was it really her luck doing all the heavy lifting?" Beulah let out a cold laugh. "Hardly."

"It was me. Me and Mr. Gilbert."

"Sure, she founded this company. But without me closing deals and delivering results, this place would've folded years ago. And now she has the nerve to throw coffee in the face of the woman who saved her business."

Beulah's little speech landed exactly where she wanted it to. The shareholders shifted in their seats, murmuring to each other, and one by one, their expressions hardened in my direction.

They believed her. They thought I was biting the hand that fed me.

"Ms. Henson, let's set aside the question of whether you understand French for a moment. Let's talk about what just happened."

"Secretary Finch has been instrumental to this company. She's closed deal after deal. She made one honest remark, and you threw coffee in her face."

"Exactly. Frankly, that kind of behavior is... unsettling."

Their accusations poured fuel on Beulah's fire. She straightened up, chin lifted, radiating the smug confidence of someone who believed she was untouchable.

"You hear that, Olive? If you don't want this company to lose its most valuable asset, you'd better walk over here, bow that stiff spine of yours, and apologize to me. Nicely. Humbly."

I listened to every word.

Then, instead of doing a single thing she demanded, I picked up my phone and called my assistant.

"Notify payroll. I want Beulah Finch's final wages calculated immediately."

Beulah shot out of her chair like she'd been electrocuted. "Olive, what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

I leaned back against my chair, my tone cool and unhurried. "You're fired."

The color drained from her face. She wasn't scared. She was furiousso furious she could barely form words.

"What? You think you can fire me?"

"Is there a problem with that?"

Beulah charged toward me, jabbing a finger inches from my nose.

"You're an uneducated nobody who can't do anything on her own! The only reason this company has any results is because you ride on other people's talent. And you have the nerve to fire me?"

She was practically screaming, every word shrill enough to echo off the conference room walls.

The shareholders glared at me with undisguised contempt, as if I were the ungrateful one, a woman with no vision and no business being in charge.

I faced them all and smiled instead of getting angry.

"Every single one of you loves to brag about your degrees from top universities. So why are you acting this stupid right now?"

The room erupted. Shareholders shot to their feet.

"Henson, what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

I let the corner of my mouth curl upward. "This woman says something, and you all just swallow it whole, is that it?"

"If Beulah Finch were really as capable as she claims, why would she settle for being a secretary?"

I thought that would be enough to make them see reason. I thought Beulah would back down.

Instead, she played her trump card. She brought up my fianc, Terry Gilbert.

"The only reason I stayed at this company was for Terry." Her voice softened, dripping with false sweetness. "He sponsored my education abroad. Now that I've graduated, it's only natural I come back to repay him."

Then her finger swung back toward me.

"Henson, you may be the CEO, but don't forget: the other half of the shares belong to Terry."

"Unless he personally fires me, no one has the right to let me go."

The tension in the room snapped. Whatever thin veneer of professionalism remained dissolved, and every word that followed carried a blade.

The shareholders nodded along, one after another, siding with her.

I shook my head and let out a quiet laugh. This was supposed to be the company's senior leadership?

Every major contract this company had ever landed, I'd negotiated myself. Beulah Finch had stood behind me during those meetings, contributing nothing. The only reason I'd brought her along at all was because she spoke some English and French.

And now she was using that French to prop herself up, to prove her value.

I almost laughed out loud.

"Beulah, I'm warning you one last time. If you insist on clinging to this position, I don't mind"

Before I could finish, the conference room doors slammed open.

"I'd like to see who dares fire her!"

The roar cut through the room. Every head turned.

"Mr. Gilbert!"

Those voices, falling over each other to greet him, were a slap in the face meant for me.

Deep down, none of them had ever respected me. To them, I was just an uneducated woman who'd never set foot in a university. It didn't matter that I'd built this company from the ground up. In their eyes, I had no standing whatsoever.

Terry Gilbert strode in, his gaze cold and dismissive as it landed on me.

"Was Beulah wrong? If you insist on firing her, who's going to take responsibility for the losses this company suffers?"

His voice hardened. "Olive, don't forget. You don't run this company alone."

The shareholders rallied behind him instantly.

"That's right! The tide that lifts a boat can just as easily capsize it. If you insist on firing Secretary Finch, don't blame us for what comes next!"

The voices piled on, one after another, a chorus of condemnation. I didn't flinch.

Beulah, emboldened by Terry's presence, turned on me with even more venom.

"You hear that, Henson? I'm something you could never measure up to."

"This isn't about you firing me anymore. The truth is, this company doesn't even need you."

She sauntered over to Terry's side, a thin, poisonous smile spreading across her face.

"Mr. Gilbert, I think it's time you made a choice."

Terry looked at me. Slowly, his expression shifted into something eager, almost excited.

The moment I saw what was unfolding before me, everything clicked into place.

Terry's appearance was no coincidence. He wanted to replace me and take over the company.

He just hadn't found the right opportunity before now.

My conflict with Beulah had played right into his hands, giving him the excuse he'd been waiting for.

"Olive, I've discussed this with the shareholders. The way things stand, you're no longer fit to remain at this company."

I watched him in silence. I didn't respond.

"Your vision and your horizons are limited to this. You simply don't have the capability to take us to the top. And frankly, neither does your background.

"If this company is going to grow, you need to leave."

My hands curled into fists at my sides.

"Because my education isn't as impressive as yours?"

"Exactly."

Terry's answer came without a shred of hesitation.

"You're a dropout who never even finished college. You have no business sitting in the chairman's seat."

I was floored.

If you looked at the Forbes list, how many of those titans had Ivy League degrees? These people had a few years of college under their belts and thought that made them gods. It was laughable.

"So you're telling me to leave."

Terry's lips curled into a sneer. "Yes."

I was so furious I almost laughed.

"Then I'm curious about your judgment back then. If you think so little of my education, why did you agree to be with me in the first place?"

My words struck a nerve. His expression darkened instantly.

"You think I wanted to marry you? If it weren't for my father, I would've called off this engagement a long time ago."

The moment those words left his mouth, Beulah practically leapt with excitement.

"That's wonderful, Terry! You should've cut ties with this illiterate nobody ages ago."

"Everyone always wondered how a man of your status ended up with some country bumpkin. I felt sorry for you even then."

"Some backwater hick has no business standing next to someone as accomplished as you!"

The shareholders chimed in one after another, raising their hands in support of Terry taking over the company.

"Olive, to be honest, we've never respected where you come from."

"The company keeps growing, and we don't want your background becoming a liability. Something people whisper about over drinks."

With everyone rallying behind her, Beulah's boldness swelled.

I had just pulled a slim cigarette from my case and was about to light it when she snatched it right out of my hand.

"Oh, a high-end brand?" She scoffed. "You think smoking expensive cigarettes makes you somebody?"

She stuck the cigarette she'd taken from me between her own lips, perched herself on the edge of the table right in front of me, and lit it with a smirk. She took a long drag.

Then, with all the arrogance in the world, she blew the smoke directly into my face.

"Why are you still sitting there like an idiot? Hurry up and"

"Get up!"

She swung her foot and kicked my chair hard.

I looked up at her, my voice cold as ice.

"Last month, when I was away on a business trip, someone else was stupid enough to kick my chair."

"Do you know what happened to her leg?"

My warning didn't faze Beulah. If anything, it made her worse.

"Who do you think you are, Olive? You actually dare threaten me?"

"I'll kick your chair as many times as I damn well please. What are you going to do about it?"

As she lifted her other foot to kick again, I spun the steel pen in my hand and drove it straight into her thigh.

A piercing scream tore through the conference room. Every person in the room sucked in a sharp breath.

"Secretary Finch, you brought this on yourself."

The moment he saw his precious secretary hurt, Terry snapped.

He stormed toward me, his heavy leather shoes hammering the floor with every furious stride.

I caught his raised right hand in a vice grip and spoke, each word deliberate and razor-sharp. "Terry Gilbert. The only reason I ever tolerated your nonsenselet you parade around and act out in front of mewas never because I was afraid of you. It was because you were my fianc."

"But now that you've decided to end our engagement, I don't have to indulge you anymore."

I wrenched his arm and hurled him sideways.

He crashed to the floor beside Beulah, staring up at me with wide, disbelieving eyes. He clearly hadn't expected someone he thought of as fragile to have that kind of explosive strength.

While the two of them sat there stunned, I turned to face the shareholders gathered around the conference table.

"You all love calling me an uneducated nobody who built something from nothing. You think I'm dead weight, that I'm useless." I let my gaze sweep across every single one of them. "But it seems you've forgotten something."

"When this company was still in its infancy, a rival targeted us and seized an entire shipment at the port."

"Everyone said Olive Henson was finished. But I have never accepted that kind of fate."

"I took a knife, went to that dock alone, and fought to get that shipment back. I risked my life to save this company."

"I have weathered storms you people can't even imagine. You really think a school of bottom-feeders like you is going to sink me?"

Terry clenched his fists, teeth grinding as he glared at me.

"Olive, that's ancient history. It doesn't mean anything now."

"Asking you to leave the company isn't just my opinion. It's all of ours."

He rose to his feet, slow and deliberate, and swept his gaze across the shareholders.

"Isn't that right?"

With Terry backing them up, they found their courage.

"That's right!"

The answer came in unison, loud and resolutea declaration that they intended to band together and force me out.

Beulah gritted her teeth and hauled herself upright, leaning against Terry for support.

"Olive, this company answers to us now!"

I didn't get angry. I just smiled at her.

Terry and these shareholders wouldn't have dared to make a move against me unless they had another card to play.

Sure enough, I was right.

Terry reached into his bag and produced a contract, holding it out in front of me.

"Honestly, I never wanted to destroy you completely. You were my fiance, after all."

"I was going to let you sell your shares, take the money, and walk away quietly. But you just had to be ungrateful. You had to fight me at every turn."

"This mess you're in right now? You brought it on yourself."

I arched a brow, my eyes locked on his.

"What exactly are you getting at, Terry?"

"What am I getting at?" He barked out a laugh. "I'm telling you to get lost!"

He flipped the contract open and let out a triumphant laugh.

"Olive, open those eyes of yours and read carefully. This is a share-transfer agreementsigned by your own hand."

My mind went blank.

"This contract... I don't remember signing anything like this."

Terry's lips curled into a cold sneer.

"Olive, do you remember the night of my birthday?"

"During the party games, I blindfolded you and told you it was paperwork for a house we were buying together. Said I just needed your signature for the registration."

A chill crawled down my spine. A wave of pure, blinding hatred crashed through me.

So that was why they had the nerve to turn on me. They'd had this ace up their sleeve the entire time.

In that moment, my fury reached its breaking point.

"Terry Gilbert. Do you have any idea that you're playing with fire?"

He met my rage with nothing but contempt.

"Playing with fire?" He scoffed. "You're the one who doesn't know her place."

"You really think the eldest son of the Gilbert Groupmewould ever actually want someone like you?"

"The only reason I ever played nice with you was because you were useful."

I let out a quiet sigh, then pulled out my phone in front of everyone, my tone leaving no room for argument.

"Within ten minutes, I want to see Gilbert Group bankrupt."

The moment the words left my mouth, Terry swept his arm through the air, and a dozen security guards closed in around me.

"Hold on." I raised my hand, utterly unbothered, and let out a cold laugh. "If Mr. Gilbert is so confident, why not wait and see?"

The guards exchanged uneasy glances. Not one of them stepped forward.

As the minutes ticked by, Terry grew impatient. "What are you all standing around for?" he snapped. "Don't tell me you actually believe this worthless woman."

The words had barely left his lips when his phone buzzed in his pocket.

Terry glanced at the caller ID, hesitated for a few seconds, then answered.

The voice on the other end roared so loud it filled the entire conference room.

"Terry, you ungrateful bastard, who the hell did you piss off?"

"Our stock is being bought out at a manic pace!"