You know the type.
Rachel was the kind of co-worker who played nice when the boss was watching but wouldn’t think twice about throwing you under the bus the moment you turned your back.
She smiled sweetly at team meetings, but every word dripped with venom. It wasn’t just about being good at her job.
For her, it was about being better than everyone else.
And Julie? That’s me. I was her latest target.
I didn’t know what hit me at first.
I was too focused on doing my job to realize the game Rachel was playing.
After all, I approached everything with the goal of getting the work done, making the client happy, and doing it all with a quiet professionalism that some might call boring.
But I guess it was that very fact that made me a threat to someone like Rachel—someone who didn’t mind cutting corners or cutting people down to get ahead.
But as Rachel was about to learn, sometimes the quickest way to the top is also the most dangerous.
Because when you play dirty, it’s only a matter of time before you trip over your own mess.
Silent War
It all started on a Tuesday, the kind of day that usually passed without incident.
I spent the morning polishing a presentation for an important client.
It was one of those projects I’d been working on for weeks, meticulously piecing together every slide, fine-tuning every word, making sure it was perfect.
And this time, it mattered more than ever.
There was a promotion on the line—an open position for a senior account manager, a big step up from where I was now.
Rachel, of course, had her eye on the same promotion.
She’d been dropping not-so-subtle hints about it for weeks, doing everything short of tattooing “Pick Me” on her forehead. She’d even taken on a few extra projects, but everyone knew her style.
She’d delegate the hard work, then swoop in at the last second to take credit.
Still, she was good at presenting herself well—she knew how to look like she was in control, even when she wasn’t.
I didn’t think too much about the competition.
As far as I was concerned, the work would speak for itself. I had no interest in petty office politics.
But Rachel wasn’t about to leave things to chance. When she overheard Julie talking to a co-worker about the presentation she was preparing, Rachel’s wheels started turning.
By the time Julie left her desk for lunch, Rachel had already formed a plan.