Chapter 3 The Youngest Perfume Manager

• Fiona’s POV
• I smooth my hands down my black pencil skirt and stop in front of the mirrored elevator doors.
• The woman that looks back at me has long dark hair slicked back in a braid, just enough makeup on to enhance her features, and is wearing a classic pencil skirt, pale pink silk blouse and a blazer. Paired with black stilettos she looks like the youngest manager of one of the most exclusive perfumeries in the world.
• What she does not look like is a woman whose entire world has just been turned upside down.
• With a nod to my reflection, I get onto the elevator nodding to one of my colleagues in marketing and wait for the elevator to descend to the lab level.
• Once there I walk to my office, exchange the blazer for a lab coat and prepare to drown my sorrows in my work.
• “Hey Fi, quite the crowd out there.” Owen, one of the scent creators, gives me a wide grin.
• “What crowd? Why is there a crowd in my lab?” I ask him, crossing my arms across my chest.
• His smile falters a little and I feel guilty, “Sorry Owen I didn’t mean to snap at you. Do you know what is going on?”
• His smile returns, and I feel my shoulders relax. I have excellent rapport with my employees and I’m not going to let Micah and his new lover ruin that for me.
• “Yeah, apparently Amorak is here a day early. He is currently eating the other creators alive down there. I escaped before the slaughter began.”
• I stand there for a moment processing all that Owen said before straightening my shoulders and stalking toward the lab.
• “No one eats my creators for lunch except me.” I grumble to myself, ignoring Owen’s chuckle.
• I push my way through the throng of people to the long table running the length of the lab.
• “There isn’t one of you with your superior sense of smell that can tell me the compounds in this creation?” The voice is deep and condescending. I can already feel a headache brewing at the back of my skull. I wish Antonia was here, but as the marketing manager of this company, she is on her way to Egypt on a survey of new markets.
• “Can I help you sir?” I come up beside the man currently staring down my employees and cross my arms.
• “And who might you be? Another creator that can’t sniff?” He looks down his nose at me and I stare back.
• Looking around I can see a few of my staff are looking at the ground, tissues clutched in their hands. This man might be one of the best perfumers in the world and the new hire here at Silver Moon Scents, but I refuse to let him push my staff or me around. He works for me now and he will learn to treat the others with respect.
• “I’m the manager of this department.” I tell him and he looks me up and down. I refuse to let him embarrass me in front of my staff.
• “There is no possible way Raulf Winters allowed someone as young and inexperienced as you to run the most important department in his company. He must have gone soft in the head. I will not work with a bunch of people who can’t even identify the compounds in a simple concoction.”
• “You don’t have to believe it Amarok, for it to be the truth. And if you wish to leave, there is the door.” My heart pounds, if he leaves, Raulf will have my head for breakfast.
• He lifts one white bushy eyebrow in my direction, “Already on a first name basis, are we? You have me at a disadvantage. You know my name, but I do not have the pleasure of knowing yours.”
• “Fiona Richards.” I tell him and he nods.
• “Alright, Miss Richards, let’s see if you can do any better than your employees. Don’t feel pressured, I’m not expecting much from one as young as you.”
• I take the bottle from him. Closing my eyes, I take a few deep breaths to center myself before waving the bottle under my nose, concentrating on picking out the different scents in the complex perfume.
• “There is lavender, mint, sandalwood…” I rattle off the rest of the ingredients in the compound before opening my eyes.
• My staff look smug. They have worked with me for the past two years and know I have an excellent nose.
• The man lifts an eyebrow once more. “I’m impressed. You are better than your counterparts here, but this is a fairly simple concoction. A simple recipe I came up with to test the people I will be working with. I found them lacking.” He glares at my employees, and they all look at the floor.
• I fight the urge to roll my eyes at his arrogance. I didn’t get to the position I am in with Silver Moon Scents in two years without being able to sniff out compounds.
• “It was nice meeting you, Miss Richards. I can’t say the same for the rest of this crew. I will be taking my leave.” He starts to walk out of the lab taking my career with him.
• “Wait, how about we make a bet? If I can create an exact replica of the compound you created, do you agree to stay on and treat the rest of the team with respect? I would think someone as experienced as you would jump at the chance to put his stamp on the next generation of perfumers.”
• He stops and turns around, a wicked smile on his face, his faded blue eyes dancing.
• “You really think you can recreate my compound exactly? You may have a good nose, but being able to recreate a compound, even a simple one, requires a lot of experience.” He looks down his nose at me. I know he thinks I can’t be a good perfumer because I lack experience, but I’m about to show him how wrong he is.
• “I don’t think. I know.” I stand up straight and look him in the eye. I’m not bowing down to this man who came into my lab and created chaos. I don’t care if he is friends with my CEO and is one of the best of all time, I won’t have my lab upended this way.
• “Alright girl, it’s time to test that arrogance you have.”
• I just nod and walk over to the table, smelling the concoction again and blocking out the rest of the world.
• Walking around the lab I pick out each of the small bottles of scent that I need, lining them up on the table in the order in which I will add them.
• The lab is silent, the loud click of my heels on the floor is the only sound.
• I gather droppers, beakers, and all the other equipment I need to recreate the perfume Amarok has made.
• I feel his shrewd gaze on me as I measure, and mix. Swirling the beaker and testing the concoction, adding a bit more of this and that until I can’t tell the difference between the two perfumes.
• I push the beaker towards Amarok and stand back watching as he swirls my recipe and noses it. He sits it down and noses his own. He goes back and forth several times before putting the beaker down as if he is too surprised to believe it is real.
• But eventually, his arrogant look has been replaced by amazement, “You have replicated this perfectly... How did you do this? I’ve worked with perfumers with decades of experience who could not have done this. How long have you been a perfumer?” He continues to smell the two beakers as if he will magically be able to figure out how I did it.
• “Two years professionally but I’ve been dabbling since I was very young.”
• “This is quite the feat young lady, quite the feat. I will not doubt you again.” He nods to me and then his gaze flicks over to the others in the room.
• “As for these people.” He waves his hand in the direction of the others.
• “Remember the deal, you treat them with respect. Teach them Amorak, they are your legacy.”
• His eyes shine brighter, and I drop my shoulders. Appealing to his ego might be the only way for him to not eviscerate my staff.
• “You all will learn. I will teach you to be the best perfumers in the world. You will be my legacy.” He says to my staff, and I have to hide my smile.
• ____________________
• Kicking off my shoes, I sigh in delight and scrunch my toes up. I want a glass of wine, takeout from my favorite Italian place, and quiet.
• The day had been trying getting Amorak settled and soothing the nerves of the staff.
• Exhausted from the emotional fallout with Micah and the demanding day at work, I just want to lose myself in some mindless television.
• I look around the cozy little house I rented. With my salary at Silver Moon, I can afford not what I was living in but better. For now, the cute little house will work until I can work up the energy to find something more of my style.
• ____________________
• The ringing of the phone brings me out of sleep. I look at my phone, it is 3 AM. I’ve barely been asleep for an hour. I spent hours lying in bed staring at the ceiling, my thoughts circling around my impending divorce. I thought that we would be celebrating our three-year anniversary and the extension of our marriage contract. But instead, I lay in this bed in my cute little cottage, wishing that I could just look the other way when it comes to Rowena.
• The insistent ring of the phone brings me out of my thoughts.
• I look at the readout and see it’s Micah. My heart is in my throat, not knowing why he is calling this late in night.