Nobody Dare Dumps This Curvy B*tch

Chapter 12

Joel

My fingers dug into the hard leather edges of my proposal folder so tightly that my knuckles turned completely white. My breath caught in my chest, heavy and suffocating, as I stood outside the double glass doors of the 48th floor corner office.

"Good morning, Manager Vanny."

Her voice was smooth, completely steady, and infuriatingly cool.

Gabby didn't flinch. She didn't look down at the floor, dodge my eyes, or show a single trace of the quiet, insecure girl I had left behind eight months ago. She stood there in an immaculate navy blazer that framed her full chest and wrapped perfectly around her hourglass figure, looking every bit like the high-powered executive her new title claimed she was.

Standing right beside her, resting his broad hand effortlessly on the small of her back, was Nathan. My cousin. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Vanny Holdings. The man whose very presence had loomed over my entire career like an unbreakable ceiling.

"G-Gabby..." The word scraped past my throat before I could stop it, thin and pathetically weak.

Beside me, Titi let out a sharp, angry gasp, her fingernails digging into my forearm. "Joel, pull yourself together," she hissed under her breath, her voice tight with venom. "Don't give her the satisfaction."

"Director Eni," Nathan corrected, his deep, commanding baritone cutting through the quiet hallway like a razor blade. He didn't even raise his voice, but the weight behind it made my knees feel hollow. His dark eyes locked onto mine, cold and completely unreadable. "If you are here to submit the Acquisitions department's event proposal for the Merger Gala, Manager Vanny, you will leave the paperwork with Director Eni's executive assistant. Otherwise, clear the corridor. We have a board briefing in twenty minutes."

I couldn't speak. My mouth felt completely dry, like swallowing sand. Few months ago, Gabby was just a naive Brooklyn chef who trusted me. During the two short months we dated in secret, I had played her like a violin. I showered her with praise, complimented her voluptuous body, and said every sweet, manipulative thing she wanted to hear just to get what I wanted. And the exact second I got it, I dropped the act. I got up, looked her up and down, told her she was far too big to handle, and walked out the door to marry Titi and secure my standing in high society.

I had convinced myself that I was the smart one. I believed I was the ambitious climber who knew how to use people and discard them when they served no further purpose.

Yet here she was. Standing three floors directly above my desk. Outranking me in my own family’s company.

Gabby offered us a polite, ice-cold smile that didn't reach her eyes. She didn't say another word to me. She simply turned her back, her full hips swaying naturally as she walked past us through the double doors of the corner suite. Nathan followed her inside, and the heavy frosted glass doors glided shut with a soft, final click, locking us out.

"This is insane!" Titi spat, turning on her heel as soon as we were back inside the private elevator bank. She slammed her designer purse against the handrail, her face red with frustration. "She’s a nobody! A line cook from Brooklyn! Nathan is doing this purely to humiliate us, Joel! He brings in some random girl from nowhere to drag our department's name through the dirt in front of the entire board!"

"Shut up, Titi," I snapped, staring blankly at the metal elevator doors as the floor display dropped.

"Excuse me?!" Titi’s eyes widened in outrage. "Do not speak to me like that! You promised me that once we got married, your family would promote you to Senior Vice President! Instead, your cousin puts her three floors above you, and you're telling me to shut up?!"

I didn't answer her. I couldn't. My chest felt tight, a sickening mixture of rage, humiliation, and deep, burning jealousy twisting my stomach into knots. The elevator doors opened on the 45th floor, and I stepped out quickly, leaving Titi fuming behind me as she stormed off toward her own department.

I walked down the long row of cubicles on the Acquisitions floor.

Every single head turned as I passed.

The junior analysts, the paralegals, the floor secretaries—they were all staring. I could hear the hushed, rapid whispers bouncing off the office dividers like static noise.

Did you see the company memo?

Nathan brought his new fiancée directly onto the executive board.

Who even is she? A chef from Brooklyn?

She’s literally running the entire 48th floor wing now...

Heat rushed to my face, burning the back of my neck. They didn't even know she was my ex—nobody in the corporate office had any idea we used to date. To them, she was just Nathan’s sudden, untouchable fiancée who held total authority over our department. That made the humiliation burn even worse.

I practically threw myself into my private office, slammed the wooden door shut, and pulled the blinds down with a violent jerk.

I dropped my proposal folder onto my mahogany desk, backed away, and kicked my heavy leather desk chair across the room. It slammed into the glass whiteboard with a loud crash, sending dry-erase markers clattering across the carpeted floor.

"Damn it!" I roared, gripping the edges of my desk as my breathing came in ragged, furious gasps.

I sank down into the guest chair, burying my face in my hands. The humiliation was absolute, suffocating, and unrelenting.

How had this happened? How had a girl I tossed aside eight months ago ended up holding the keys to my corporate advancement?

My mind kept racing back to the sight of her stepping out of that car, looking so effortless, so full of life, and so dangerously attractive. When we dated, she wore oversized sweaters and hid behind her soft, quiet personality. But today, in that navy blazer, embracing every single curve of her hourglass figure, she looked untouchable.

And the worst part—the part that tore through my pride like jagged glass—was the way Nathan looked at her.

Nathan Vanny didn't treat women with gentleness. He was a ruthless, calculating corporate predator who viewed people as assets and liabilities. Yet today, he had stood beside Gabby, placing his hand on her back with a protective, calm possessiveness that sent shockwaves through the entire company.

Did he actually care about her? Or was he just using her to keep me pinned under his thumb?

A sharp knock at my office door startled me out of my thoughts.

I straightened my tie, ran a hand through my messy hair, and tried to force my voice back into a calm, authoritative tone. "Come in."

The door opened, and my senior department assistant stepped inside, looking nervous as he held an iPad against his chest. "Mr. Vanny... I just received a corporate notification from the 48th floor."

"What notification?" I asked, my voice tight.

"Director Eni has formally requested a complete audit of the Acquisitions department's event budget for the upcoming Merger Gala," the assistant said quietly, avoiding my eyes. "All event expense requests must now be personally reviewed and approved by her office before any funds are released."

A cold, bitter weight settled deep in the pit of my stomach.

Gabby didn't just outrank me. She now held direct, absolute control over my department's biggest project of the fiscal year. Every single dollar I needed to prove my worth to the board had to pass through her hands first.

I sat alone in my dim office long after the assistant left, staring at the floor-to-ceiling glass paneling that looked out over the city. I was stuck on the 45th floor, stripped of my arrogance, forced to look up at the woman I had broken—and realize that she now held total power over my future.

“This is abrupt nonsense!” I growled to the empty room. “I think it’s high time Nathan comes back to his senses.” I stood up and walked out my office door heading to Nathan’s office.