La Novels
MISTAKE 251
Chapter 251: A scare
With a few taps, Hazel located the audio recording she had made in the office bathroom the previous week and hit play. Instantly, the hushed voices of two female employees filled the
room.
"Oh my god, did you hear what Reeds wants to do with that Hazel girl?"
"Apparently he was going to sell her off to some rich pervs at that club for 'entertainment' if you know what I mean."
The voices dissolved Into mocking laughter. "Can you imagine, being passed around like a party favor just because some gross old man wanted to make an extra buck?"
As the recording went on, it became more obscene as the girls seemed pleased knowing what would happen to Hazel.
Hazel stopped the recording at that point, fixing Ted and Sarah with a pointed look. Their faces had gone pale, mouths hanging open in shock. This did not look good. It is one thing if Hazel claimed Mr Reed's wanted to do something to her, and it is another for the entire company to behave as though this is normal. This was not as scandal the company could handle right now.
"So as you can hear," Hazel said coldly. "Mr. Reeds seems to be quite known in the company as a pimp. Selling female staff for favors. Not only doesn't happen, it seems it is not a secret. I wonder if the public would think Mr. Reeds is CEO's brother or something, that is why they company condones his actions."
She tucked her phone back into her purse and stood up, leaning forward on the desk. "Now, I have no desire to bring any more unwanted scandals or publicity to this company. But if the company wants to be famous, I will oblige and will be forced to take that recording to the press, social media, law enforcement - anywhere that will listen."
Hazel straightened up and smoothed her skirt. "I trust we understand each other. Have a pleasant rest of your day."
With that, she turned on her heel and strode out, leaving the two gobsmacked HR reps still reeling over the damaging revelation she had shoved in their face.
The comments exploded on the company forum after the article broke about the mysterious woman who had brutally beaten Mr. Reeds, the head of the online division, and several Hug Tech investors at a club. The piling reactions ranged from giddy celebration to bewildered disbelief.
"Finally that creep Reeds got what was coming to him!" one commenter kicked things off gleefully. "How many years did we have to watch him be a total scumbag to all the young ladies around here?"
Chapter 251: A score
"I heard through the grapevine that sicko was trying to pimp out some girl to those investor pervs to get twisted with at whatever nasty club they were at,” another chimed in. “Thank god this mystery woman shut that down HARD!"
A tidal wave of pent-up resentment towards Reeds' abusive misogyny came pouring out through the comments. It was as if years of horror stories and accusations had finally been
vindicated.
"We really hired John Wick to take out the trash! Reeds never stood a chance against her!"
"If this is real, I want names, numbers, socials anything to book this queen for unleashing more righteous beatdowns!"
While the mocking and cheering of Reeds' downfall dominated the early comments, there was also a steady undertone of confusion and alarm at how one person could allegedly take down so many in such brutal fashion.
"I mean, I'm no fan of Reeds and his creep tactics either, but sending multiple people to the ICU seems, like, unhinged?" one bewildered commenter wrote. "Who is this woman, Beatrix Kiddo?"
"Really starting to feel unsafe around the office right now if we have a low-key assassin just wandering the halls..." another fretted.
It was at this point that the alleged identity behind the assailant finally got revealed, throwing more gasoline onto the raging dumpster fire of comments.
“Okay, I have it on pretty good authority that the 'mystery woman' was actually our very own Hazel Greyson!" a brazen commenter announced. "Apparently sleaze ball Reeds was trying to SELL her to those investors to abuse at the club, and she went full JOHN WICK after getting away!!" You could almost hear the shockwaves ripple through the comments as people tried to make sense of this jaw-dropping revelation.
"Hazel?! Our unassuming little data queen? No way, she wouldn't hurt a fly!"
"I dunno, she did just get that major promotion over Reeds. Maybe he finally took his petty revenge too far and she snapped?"
"Oh c'mon, we all know Hazel was actually a black belt assassin in the danish special forces before she came here!"
As ludicrous as the idea of meek, unassuming Hazel being capable of such violence seemed, more evidence continued to pile up. Finally, someone posted a grainy cellphone pic that showed her storming away from the club looking visibly disheveled.
"Well I'll be damned...that blurry person does kinda look like Hazel. She's been concealing her John Wick abilities this whole time!"
The comments rapidly devolved into a bizarre combination of awestruck celebration, utter disbelief, and newly-formed trepidation towards Hazel.
"I always knew our little spreadsheet master was an absolute savage, just not like... LITERALLY savage!"
"So what, we're just supposed to walk on eggshells around Hazel now in case she doesn't like our numbers and decides to choke us out?" "And the police can do nothing. Think guys, why hasn't anyone come to arrest her?"
"We are not worthy! We are not worthy! All hail the queen of kicking ass!"
"Am I the only one afraid?"
"It's fine. Calm down. We are all afraid,"
As Hazel strode down the hallway towards the break room, she could feel colleagues practically flattening themselves against the walls to avoid getting too close. Adults who should have been professional business-people instead reverted to skittish, fear-struck children in her presence.
When she entered the break room, the two employees within stopped mid-conversation and whipped their heads around, eyes widening like a pair of deer caught in headlights. Hazel simply gave them a mild look of bemusement as she moved to refill her coffee mug.
"He-hey Hazel," the first employee, a marketing manager named Eric, stammered out with an anxious grin. "Crazy weather we're having lately, huh? Did you, uh, did you catch the storm reports for this weekend?"
Hazel arched an eyebrow at his blatant attempt to make small talk and defuse the awkward tension. She decided to mercifully reply. "It's supposed to rain. Heavily."
“Right! Yes, exactly, lots of rain coming our way" Eric nodded vigorously. “You know, it's really going to put a damper on my weekend plans of... power-washing the deck and re- staining it. But I guess that'll have to wait if we get flooding or whatnot. Safety first, as they say!"
He punctuated his rambling with an uncomfortable chuckle, his joke falling completely flat. The silence that followed was painfully palpable until the other employee, an accountant named Delia, finally spoke up.NôvelDrama.Org owns this text.
“Hazel,” she said, her voice cracking slightly from nerves. “I don't mean to bother you, but placements have been sent out for interviews. Which would you like to pick?"
Hazel gave a slight shrug. "Anyone is fine."
Immediately, Delia's entire demeanor shifted, her back straightening as if she were being
hapter 257 A scare
given an order from a drill sergeant. "Alright. I will send the list to your inbox. If you have any questions, please contact accounting about it. This month's draft of interviews is dependent on the sale value of the person on the page."
As Delia launched into her jumbled accounting question, Hazel was struck by how the woman was speaking – eloquently and clearly, with no trace of the nervous stammering from moments before. It was as if Hazel had flipped a switch just by agreeing to her initial query.
In fact, the more Hazel studied Delia's body language, the more she realized the other woman was hanging on her every word, desperately trying to provide a thorough and satisfactory answer to the make-believe question.
The absurd dynamic only continued when Eric chimed back in, clearly feeling left out and not wanting to risk even hypothetically crossing Hazel. "You know, I actually have a few thoughts on those interviews too," he jumped in, shoving his way into their conversation.
As Hazel looked between the two colleagues practically falling over themselves to appease her in any way possible, she felt a bewildered mix of power, dismay, and outright annoyance. Her reputation as a badass, brutally efficient hard-charger was clearly making the rounds in
earnest.
Chapter 252: An Auction