My Scheming Trainee Stole My Success With a System

To land a ninety-million-dollar contract, I drank so much entertaining the client that I ended up in the hospital with a bleeding stomach. But at the company awards ceremony, the person who stood up to accept the recognition was my own trainee, Bella Young. I lost it on the spot. “Bella, why are you taking credit for my deal?” But Bella calmly pulled out the contract. The name on the signature page was hers. “Gina, I know you trained me, but that doesn’t mean you can just steal my work in front of everyone.” She gave me a mocking smile. “Isn’t that a little shameless? “Besides, closing deals takes skill. You’re getting old. Maybe you just can’t keep up anymore.” Just like that, she claimed everything I had worked for as her own. I was about to go straight to our boss and clear things up when I heard Bella’s voice coming from inside his office. I stopped outside the door. She was curled up in his arms, speaking in a spoiled, sugary voice. “That idiot Gina has no idea. “As long as she gets the client to sign, my Contract Transfer System automatically changes the name on every deal to mine! “The harder she works, the more I get!” My hand froze inches from the door. Chapter 1 My heart turned cold. Our boss laughed. “Hahaha. You really are something, babe. This way, I don’t even have to pay her commission. “I’ll use the money I save to buy you a new bag.” Then the two of them started kissing. Bella giggled. “From now on, she’ll be working for me for the rest of her life!” What the hell was this Contract Transfer System she kept talking about? I had personally signed my name on that contract. How could it possibly have changed to hers? My mind went blank as I returned to my desk. I had barely sat down when the coworkers beside me started mocking me. “I told you sales is all about ability. Some people spend all day smiling and flirting with clients like they’re trying to sell themselves, and they still can’t compete with Bella saying a few words. “Exactly. And she’s always acting like some respected senior around the office. What a joke. She even claimed she was the one who closed the deal. Guess someone couldn’t handle losing. The two people speaking were Liam Hart and Zack Turner, who sat beside me. I calmly pointed at myself. “Me? Twenty thousand a month.” Then I pointed at them. “You two? Three thousand.” “So when exactly did either of you become qualified to run your mouths at me?” I still hadn’t figured out what was going on with Bella. But that didn’t mean I was going to let just anyone walk all over me. “If I remember correctly, weren’t the two of you practically begging me a few days ago to take you on as trainees?” Before I could finish, Charles Grant walked out of his office. I hadn’t even noticed him come out. He tossed a file onto my desk. “This project is worth sixty million. “Read through the materials and close it as soon as possible.” “That’s right, Gina.” Bella smiled sweetly. “You almost ruined the last deal. I was the one who had to step in and save it. “Mr. Grant is giving you another chance to make up for your mistake this time. You’d better work hard.” She even gave me a little cheering gesture. “According to company policy, if you don’t close enough business this month, your salary gets dropped to the lowest tier.” She covered her mouth and laughed. “Two thousand a month. I wonder if that’s even enough to eat.” I picked up the file and tossed it straight back. “Sorry. “I quit. “I’m resigning.” I still didn’t understand exactly how Bella’s Contract Transfer System worked. But one thing was obvious. I couldn’t stay at this company. If the system really worked the way Bella claimed it did, then no matter how much I accomplished, I’d only be working for free while she took all the credit. Bella looked surprised when she heard me. She gave me a quick once-over. Then she suddenly smiled. Chapter 2 Bella leaned closer. “Gina, did you figure something out?” She let out a soft laugh, amusement filling her eyes even as her voice turned cold. “But even if you go to another company, you still won’t escape. “If you don’t believe me, go ahead and try.” My stomach sank. I clenched my fists so tightly that my nails dug into my palms. No matter how powerful Bella’s system was, there was no way it could follow me to another company. Right? The next morning, I submitted my resignation. Charles approved it without even reading it. Bella leaned against the doorway of his office and flashed me a smug smile. “Gina, want to make a bet on how long you’ll last at your new company? “I don’t think you’ll make it a week before you come crawling back.” The way she smiled sent a chill down my spine. She looked almost demonic. I found another job in the same industry as quickly as I could. I threw myself into the work, determined to prove her wrong. With the contacts and experience I had built up over the years, it took me less than a week to land a deal worth more than thirty million dollars. I stared at my signature on the contract and finally breathed a sigh of relief. The contract was right here in my hands. Surely it couldn’t somehow turn into Bella’s deal again. I placed it on my new boss’s desk. “Mr. Parker, the Sterling Industries deal is done.” Mr. Parker nodded approvingly. But the moment he picked up the contract, his phone rang. He answered it. The smile on his face vanished. “What?” “Sterling signed with Bella Young from Grant Corporation?” His head snapped toward me. Then he opened the contract I had just handed him. The client’s signature line was completely blank. My name was the only one left on the document. “Gina Cole, is this some kind of joke?” He hurled the contract at me. “No wonder Charles warned me about you. He said you were always taking credit for deals you didn’t close! “If you didn’t have such a reputation for working yourself to the bone, I never would’ve hired you in the first place!” I stood frozen. Cold spread through my entire body. Bella had been telling the truth. I had handled this deal from beginning to end. I hadn’t let a single person else touch it. I was even working for an entirely different company now. And somehow, it had still become Bella’s achievement. I rushed out of the office and hailed a cab. By the time I stormed into my old company, Bella was sitting leisurely at her desk, painting her nails. “Why?” I stared at her, my voice trembling. “Why does every contract I sign end up becoming yours?” Bella slowly screwed the cap back onto the bottle of nail polish. Then she looked up at me with a sweet smile. “What do you mean, why? “I already told you, Gina. “For the rest of your life, you’re only going to be my stepping stone.” She reached toward me. I slapped her hand away. Then I raised my arm and slapped her hard across the face. Chapter 3 Bella covered her cheek and stared at me in disbelief. Her expression turned so vicious it looked like she wanted to tear me apart. “Gina Cole! You actually hit me?!” Her shriek twisted with rage. I stared back at her coldly. If the law weren’t stopping me, I wanted to do far worse than slap her. “What do I have left to be afraid of? “I can barely keep a job because of you. So what if I hit you?” Something in my expression made her falter. She instinctively took a step back. “You’ll regret this!” Then she started screaming hysterically. At that exact moment, Charles walked out of his office. Bella’s expression changed instantly. Tears welled in her eyes as she rushed into his arms. “Mr. Grant! Gina hit me! You have to do something!” Charles frowned at me. “Gina, do you never want to work in this industry again?” Bella nestled against him. Then, as if she had suddenly remembered something, she shot me a smug look. “Exactly. “Let me guess. What company would still hire you now? “You’re useless. You can’t close a single deal.” I froze. She was right. With that bizarre Contract Transfer System following me around, what difference did it make where I worked? What sales company would keep someone who never had any results to show for her work? “If every deal I close is just going to become yours, then why should I keep working at all? “I might as well quit sales completely.” Bella covered her mouth and giggled. “Gina, I don’t care if you decide to give up. “But you might want to think this through. “What happens to your mortgage if you stop working? “And what about your son’s school expenses?” Her smile made me sick. “How about this? “If you get down on your knees and apologize to me right now, I might consider letting you come back. “You’ll only get the base salary, of course, but that’s still better than making nothing, isn’t it? “At least you’ll be able to feed your kid.” My heart sank. Bella had gone straight for the one weakness I couldn’t ignore. She had left me with no real choice. Even knowing it was a trap, I had no choice but to walk into it. My nails dug deep into my palms. I closed my eyes and took a slow breath. Then I bent my knees and lowered myself onto the cold floor. “I’m sorry. “Please let me come back to work.” Bella looked down at me and laughed softly. Then she reached out and patted my cheek. “See? Was that so hard? “Be here on time tomorrow. Don’t be late.” When I arrived at the office the next morning, I discovered that my desk had been moved beside the restroom. The desk itself was tiny. It was buried under piles of junk, and the whole corner smelled like damp carpet and disinfectant. I knew Bella had done it deliberately. Frowning, I rolled up my sleeves and started clearing the mess. I had barely begun when mocking voices came from behind me. “Well, look who it is.” Liam grinned. “Weren’t you acting pretty tough before? I heard you’re making two thousand a month now. “So who’s running their mouth now?” Zack laughed beside him. “And I heard you had to get on your knees and beg Bella to let you come back. That’s embarrassing. “If it were me, I’d be too ashamed to show my face around here.” The two of them stood there enjoying every second of my humiliation. Now that Bella had the upper hand, they couldn’t wait to suck up to her by kicking me while I was down. I couldn’t be bothered wasting my time on them. I just wanted to clear enough space to sit down and get through the day. So I lowered my head and kept cleaning. Then Liam deliberately walked past and slammed his arm into the desk. Everything piled on top of it crashed to the floor. “Oh, sorry, Gina.” He smiled without a trace of sincerity. “I didn’t see that. “You’re cleaning anyway, right? “Might as well clean all of it up together.” Chapter 4 Liam spoke in a mocking tone, then deliberately stepped on the papers scattered across the floor. Zack folded his arms and burst out laughing. “If you’re that desperate to stay, why not take over the janitor’s job too? “Come by my desk later and empty my trash. “Otherwise, I’ll tell Bella to fire you!” Only after they had mocked me to their hearts’ content did the two of them walk away laughing. I stared at the documents scattered across the floor and took a deep breath. Without a word, I crouched down and began picking them up one by one. Before I could get far, the click of Bella’s heels approached. She frowned and waved a hand in front of her nose. “What’s that smell?” Only then did she look at me. “I’m hungry. Go get me a salad. Kale as the base, no tahini, and I want the freshest sweet shrimp they have." She looked down at me and held out a credit card. “And stop by the coffee shop on the way back. Get me an iced Americano with a light roast. Extra ice, no milk, one packet of sugar.” I looked at the papers I had just picked up and clenched my jaw. “I still have work to do.” Bella’s expression immediately darkened. “Work?” She scoffed. “What could possibly be more urgent than getting my lunch? “Have you forgotten how you got this job back? You do whatever I tell you to do. Understand?” I clenched my fists. But I had no choice except to agree. I went out into the 102-degree heat and waited in line for nearly two hours before finally getting everything Bella wanted. By the time I returned to the office, it was almost one in the afternoon. The moment Bella saw me, she snatched the bags from my hands with an annoyed expression. She looked down at them and immediately started complaining. “What took you so long? Did you crawl back here? “My coffee’s barely even cold anymore! “A turtle could move faster than you. God, you’ve completely ruined my lunch.” Then she tossed a file at me. “Here. This is your assignment for the week. “Oh, I forgot to tell you. Mr. Grant and I discussed your salary. “From now on, your base salary is conditional. You’ll have a quota to meet every week, and if you miss it, your pay gets docked.” She straightened with a smug smile, then walked away in her heels. I picked up the file, trembling with anger. They were determined to squeeze every last bit of value out of me. I couldn’t let this continue. I refused to believe Bella’s so-called Contract Transfer System was completely flawless. There had to be a loophole somewhere. This time, I took every precaution I could think of. Every message I exchanged with the client was screenshotted and saved word for word. Every in-person meeting was recorded from beginning to end, both audio and video. Before long, I won the project with my design skills. But when it came time to sign the contract, I deliberately added one more safeguard. Under the excuse of generating publicity for the client, I invited a small local news outlet to cover the signing. The entire signing process was filmed and documented by their reporters. The contract was signed without a hitch. And sure enough, Bella showed up almost immediately. She sauntered over to my desk and snatched the signed contract out of my hands. “Gina, you worked so hard.” She smiled. “You landed another eighty-million-dollar deal for the company.” Then she paused dramatically. “Oh, sorry. “For me.” Right in front of me, Bella opened the contract. Just as I expected, my name on the signature page had already been replaced with hers. She gave me a triumphant smile. “Congratulations. You’ve secured five hundred dollars of base pay for yourself this month. “You’d better keep working hard, Gina. “Five hundred dollars isn’t even enough to cover one of my dinners.” I clenched my teeth and ignored her taunting. Chapter 5 This time, I was prepared. Even if the name on the contract had changed, I still had the video footage and screenshots of every conversation with the client. The moment I got home from work, I didn’t even bother taking off my shoes. I pulled out my phone immediately. Sure enough, every message between the client and me was gone. Even the client’s account had disappeared from my contacts. I took a deep breath and opened my photo gallery with trembling hands. The countless screenshots I had taken were still there. But in every single one, my profile picture and username had changed. They had been replaced by Bella’s carefully edited selfie and her username. My breath caught. I hurriedly opened the videos I had spent so much time recording. The footage was still perfectly clear. But the person sitting across from the client, discussing terms and negotiating the deal, was now Bella. How was that possible? This was beyond creepy. A chill ran down my spine. Then I remembered the local news report. No matter how bizarre Bella’s system was, surely it couldn’t alter an entire group of people’s memories too. I quickly pulled up the news outlet’s social media page. After scrolling through its videos, I found the report from the day of the signing. The entire signing process had been captured in crystal-clear detail. Even the tiny mole beside Bella’s eye was plainly visible. The comments underneath were all praising Bella for landing the deal. And they had all been posted on the day the contract was signed. How could this be happening? Screenshots could be faked. Videos could be altered with AI. But could the system really rewrite the memories and perceptions of everyone involved too? I didn’t have a single piece of evidence left proving that I had ever been involved in the project. Despair nearly swallowed me whole. Then, just when I thought there was no way out, something suddenly occurred to me. The Contract Transfer System had changed everything connected to my identity. But I had overlooked the most important thing. The contract itself. I hurriedly pulled up the scanned copy on my phone. Every detail that could identify me had been replaced. But the actual terms of the contract hadn’t changed at all. The clauses. The price. The payment account. Every line I had personally drafted remained exactly the same. A surge of excitement rushed through me. I locked my phone, my fingertips trembling. Bella, you love stealing credit so much, don’t you? You love being the center of attention? Fine. This time, I’d make sure to prepare a very special achievement just for you.