Christmas At The Tycoon's Command

“Because I believe in you,” he said quietly. “You’re a brilliant scientist, Chloe. Juliette said you have even better instincts than she had at this age. That you have the magic in you. I just wasn’t sure you or Vivre was ready.”

Hot tears prickled beneath her eyelids. A knot she hadn’t been conscious of unraveled in her chest. Three years of blood, sweat and tears. Six months of praying she had created something that would do her mother proud. To be so close to watching her dream reach fruition almost undid her.

But there was also fear. Her stomach clenched hard at the responsibility that now lay on her shoulders, icy tentacles of apprehension sinking into her skin. What if she failed? What if she’d been overly optimistic and couldn’t get the campaign into market in time? What if she was wrong about Vivre? What if it wasn’t going to be the smash hit she thought it would be?

She inhaled a deep breath. Steadied herself. She wasn’t wrong. She knew it in her heart. She just wished her mother was here to tell her that. To be the second half of her she had always been. Instead, she had to do this herself.

“I know this is the right path for Evolution,” she said huskily. “I can feel it in my bones.”

Nico nodded. “Then let me give you a few additional thoughts I have.”

They sat at the table in the dining room and worked through the plan. Released one by one in limited-edition launches in the weeks leading up to Christmas, the campaign for Vivre was all about buzz building and creating a sense of exclusivity for the perfumes.

Vivre’s four celebrity ambassadors would do exclusive appearances at the Times Square pop-up retail location in conjunction with the massive promotional campaign that would blanket the globe, intensifying the buzz.

Nico frowned as he looked at the timeline. “When does Eddie’s movie come out?”

“The second week of December.” Chloe pointed to the date on the timeline. “That’s why we’re launching Soar that week.”

“What are you doing on his side of things to cross-promote?”

She pursed her lips. “I hadn’t gotten that far yet.”

“You should do something with the theaters. Hand samples out. Put the fragrance in the gift bags at the premieres. Run the campaign on theater screens.”

So smart. She tapped her coffee mug against her chin. “I don’t know if we have time.”

He lifted a brow.

“We’ll make it happen,” she corrected hastily. “No problem.”

He offered a half dozen more brilliant ideas before they were done, Chloe frantically scribbling notes. She had to reluctantly admit by the time they were finished that while she and her uncle had created an inspired plan, Nico had taken it to a whole other level with his innate sense of timing and brilliant business instincts.

Which had never been in question, she brooded as he got up from the table to shrug on an elegant black dinner jacket. Her father would never have taken him on as his protégé if he hadn’t possessed Leone Di Fiore’s uncanny sense of financial wizardry. What she couldn’t forgive was how Nico had taken advantage of the trust her father had placed in him with what Giorgio had described as a systematic campaign to gain power.