A Gift from the Goddess

"Rae...I do believe this guy is alive," Zac said.

The two of us were peering into the cupboard, looking at a very tied up and very terrified looking Noah.

"Yep," I replied.

"Right...right....And, just to make sure we’re on the same page here, you are aware that normally I don’t see this part, right? That I come in afterwards?"

"I’m aware."

At the sound of the conversation, Noah immediately started to squirm and plead to Zac with his eyes, hoping that he would help free him.

Not that it would do him any good.

"So, what's the hold up?" Zac asked, still confused.

"Isn’t this just another Thursday for you? I’ve seen you do worse."

He was right.This really wasn’t that abnormal of a job for me to do.

But I gritted my teeth at his question nevertheless, hating how I had ended up in this situation.

"I...can’t," I said, deflating in defeat.

"I can’t do it."

"You can’t...do it...," Zac repeated slowly.

"And why is it—."

"Look, I just can’t, okay?" I said, cutting him off, irritated at all the questions.

"I’ve tried.I even tried again before you got over here.I can’t do it, I can’t do it, I can’t do it.End of discussion."

"...So why am I here? Just tell your dad that —."

"No."

Of course, Zac would suggest that.He didn’t know about every dark secret my father was hiding, only ever seeing as far as he needed to.

"No, I can’t tell him," I said.

"...And you can’t tell him either."

"Rae, the boss is expecting this guy dead," he said, taking a step back to look at me.

"I’m not really sure what’s going on, but you do realise he’ll find out sooner or later, right? You can’t just keep him locked up in a cupboard forever."

"Okay, fine! Fine...," I sighed in frustration, before slowly locking up to meet his eyes.

"...Then you do it."

Immediately, his face paled.

"What?! Rae, no! No," he blurted out.

"I don’t do that."

"c’mon, Zac," I whined.

"It’s not that different from cleaning up.Both have a lot of blood.I can talk you through it.Here...just grab this dagger like this...and then hold it in your hand facing—."

"Raven, stop!"

I'd been trying to get him to wield the weapon but he immediately held his hands up and stepped away.

"Just...chill," he said.

"I’m not going to kill someone."

"Argh! I spun around and angrily started pacing the room, beginning to get more worried as every second passed.I didn’t understand why this had to be so difficult.It shouldn't be this hard.Any other day, I could have done this job with my eyes closed.Why was I struggling to kill one random man? Who even was this guy? A small brown wallet then caught my attention as it sat on top of a table, and I walked over to inspect it.

look sort of familiar?" I heard

I went digging

membership to

finally, I found his

of looks like

Zac continued.

from a

reading the name

clean-up a few days ago?" I slowly spun around to look at Zac, my mind

this guy’s last name," I

"Noah Kennedy."

simultaneously, we both then turned to look at the man tied up in the

thought that Miles was an

to pull a fast one over

acquired problematic documents relating to

Noah involved in whatever Miles had been up to? ...Or was I sent here because he was digging into his disappearance? ...If that were true...then didn’t that mean Noah’s death sentence today was because of me? Because of m

to Noah and pulled out the cloth I’d stuffed into

agreed that talking to the future murder victim was possibly the dumbest thing I could ever do...but I felt

please," he immediately started

anything.Just...don’t

Miles?" I

face blanked for a moment before

"What about Miles?"

answering my questions plainly.I’d already had my fill of

into the wall directly next to his head, causing

pulling the knife back

repeat myself for the last

huff out a ‘yes’, his head quickly

"Howe"

brother," he

pinched the bridge of my nose, already knowing I was going to hate where this was

the last

the bar on Saturday.I think he’s missing," he hurriedly

been looking for him but it’s like he’s just disappeared....Is that why you’re here?

That caught my attention.

‘Business’.

curiosity and

had already asked was already way

wasn't to investigate my father’s dealings, it was just to

a part of

whether or not his death sentence today was actually because of

asked the question I

business was Miles involved

"Rae—."

repeated, interrupting Zac

would know how bad of an idea this was, just as I

under the

"Smuggling," Noah answered.

rare goods from all over.The

should have stopped.No, I *definitely* shouldn’t

businessman?" I

looked at me as if I were

else in this city would be shady enough to need a

Fuck.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

An employee.

been a

criminal or a rivaling businessman.He was

...I killed an employee*.

he trying to run away or snitch on my father?

in them? If they were harmful, then what could make someone want to betray aman as powerful as my father? Someone who would know better than most in this city what going against him entailed? There were too many questions already asked and far too many answers left unknown that I shouldn’t go looking

for a moment and stop tunnelling down a

left with a very important ‘what’; As in, what the hell was I going to do about Noah? And I quickly stood

wasn’t like the