The Perfumer He Forgot

Chapter 2 The Handover Checklist

The next morning, I reached the lab before sunrise. Alcohol wipes and clean glass gave the room its usual sterile smell. I had spent more nights there than I could count. This one would be the last.

I connected an encrypted hard drive to the main server.

I copied my private journals, experimental formulas, and the original molecular structures for every bestseller onto it.

The transfer bar crawled across the screen in the empty lab. When it reached the end, three years of my work sat inside one drive.

Once the backup was complete, I began the purge.

I left the master formulas where they were. Deleting them would be too obvious.

I removed only my proprietary stabilizing agents.

Those tiny, complex molecules kept the top notes from souring. They also stopped the heart from fading and the base from turning rancid.

In the production files, they looked like minor entries. Anyone who didn’t know exactly what each one did would overlook them.

Without those agents, the perfumes would smell right when first sprayed and spoil within minutes.

I reset the high-precision chromatographs to their factory settings and wiped the custom calibrations I had built for them.

The screens restarted on their default menus. Nothing looked broken. The machines simply couldn’t reproduce my work anymore.

The door opened. Arthur walked in carrying expensive coffee, still wearing the shirt from last night’s launch. He smelled of cologne and stale champagne.

He checked the benches and equipment. His gaze passed right over me.

“Clear out your personal things by noon. Chloe needs a dedicated space to prepare for the global showcase. This lab is hers now.”

He nodded toward the door. “You can take a desk in the open-plan area with the junior chemists.”

“Of course,” I said.

He waited for me to argue. When I didn’t, he took a drink and smiled into his coffee.

I slid my universal access badge across the steel counter. It struck the binder with a soft click. “Then you’ll need this.”

I pushed the binder after it. “The lab handover checklist. I need your signature to transfer the assets and responsibilities.”

He picked it up and flicked through the first pages. His phone buzzed before he reached the table of contents.

“Damn it. Reporters have cornered Chloe at the hotel. She can’t handle them.”

He turned for the door with the binder under his arm.

“Arthur. The signature.”

He looked back at me. “Right.”

He flipped to the two yellow tabs at the back. While typing a reassuring message to Chloe, he signed without reading the text above either line.

His first hurried signature landed on the divorce agreement. The second landed on the patent revocation. He shut the binder, tossed it onto the counter, and checked for Chloe’s reply.

“There. It’s done.” He headed out. “Now I have to clean up Chloe’s mess.”

His footsteps faded down the hall. I picked up the binder and checked both signatures against the printed names. The ink still shone under the lab lights.

I sent my lawyer two words.

*Execute it.*