Miss Poppy and the Beast

10. Another Job offer

"I have a request.", he said looking at her with a serious face.

'Request ? What kind of request?', she wondered.

"I want you to look after Theo.", he said further.

When he saw a bewildered look on her face, he explained further, "I mean, I want you to work for me as a full-time nanny for Theo."

'Yes sure, in your dreams', Poppy wanted to spit those words on his face, but didn't dare to do so. She didn't want to die so early.

She opened her mouth to deny him, but before she could do so he said, "I don't want your answer right now. I want you to think about it carefully before making any rash decision.", His voice was calm but kind of threatening, as if he won't be taking her answer as 'no'.

Poppy gulped and nodded her head very lightly. Finally she opened the door and went inside her apartment. As she reached the main gate, the sudden urge made her turn around and her breath hitched, the moment she saw Artemis standing out of the car, leaning on it with folded arms.

It was dark outside, but she knew his eyes were on her. Why was he standing like  that? Was he waiting for her to go inside first, but he didn't have to come out of the car? And when did he even get out of the car? As far as she remembers she didn't hear him coming out. Was he a ghost or something? Lots of questions were swirling inside her tiny head but she shrugged her thoughts and went inside, after giving a last glance to him.

When he finally saw her going inside, Artemis stood there for some more time. He placed a cigarette on his lips and lit it up. After smoking that cigarette, he went inside his car.

A loud sigh left from his mouth and then he rested his head on the steering wheel. ''What am I even doing?'', he mumbled to himself and after a few minutes, he drove away.

............

~Somewhere in a dark room~

The room was dark. Few lights were hanging from the ceiling, one of which was flickering. Jazz music was playing in the Gramophone, breaking the deadly silence in that room.

The door of the room opened and a man entered, hesitantly. "Boss, one of our men saw him with a girl just now,'' that  man said standing in front of a huge mahogany coloured couch.

In front of him was a man resting on that huge couch with stretched  out hands on the head rest. He was wearing a long cloak and his face was covered with a blood red mask, covering half of his face. His lips and jaw lines were exposed and he was holding a glass of wine. Two huge built-up men were standing behind that couch. They were his guards.

After taking a few sips of wine, he put the glass on the center table. "With a girl, huh? That's unusual." Artemis was never seen by any girl or woman after his wife's death and this piece of information was kind of new. "Did he sense our men?", he said with a calm, but deep voice.

"I guess not. The potion is working properly. If he had known, he is not someone who would sit around and do nothing ", that man said. One of his men saw Artemis when he was on his way dropping Poppy. There were a lot of people on the road and the man who was following him, had camouflaging potion sprayed on his body.

"You don't know him. He is way more smart than you think.", the masked man said. He paused for a minute and instructed him, "I want every single detail of that girl. Maybe we need her someday", he said with a dangerous sinister smile.
.
.
.
.
Next morning, Poppy had to wake up early as Edina had to leave early in the morning for some work and she had to lock the door. After Edina left, Poppy didn't sleep further but got ready very early to go to work so she had a lot of time in her hands.