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 through his different

a grocery store reward one...a rental shop...a membership

I found his driver’s

of looks like that

Zac continued.

one from a few days ago.You

said, reading the name on the

Kennedy.Wasn’t he the guy from the clean-up a few days ago?" I slowly spun around

Zac...Kennedy is this guy’s last name," I

"Noah Kennedy."

simultaneously, we both then turned to look at the man

Miles was an underground businessman or some

to pull a fast one over my

else would he have acquired problematic documents relating to him? But...‘clean up’.That’s

...If that were true...then didn’t that mean Noah’s death sentence today was because of

and pulled out

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

please," he

anything.Just...don’t kill

I asked, disregarding the

a moment before

"What about Miles?"

for people not answering my questions

crouched down to his eye level and sunk m y dagger into the wall directly next to his head,

questions," I hissed, pulling the knife back out to point it at

repeat myself for the last

out a ‘yes’,

"Howe"

m-my brother,"

the bridge of my nose, already knowing I

when was the last time you heard from

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

I swear! I’ve been looking for him but it’s like he’s just disappeared....Is that why

That caught my attention.

‘Business’.

was something that held my curiosity and

the questions I had already asked

investigate my father’s dealings, it was just to carry

a part of me wanted to

whether or not his death sentence today was actually because

asked the question I

business was Miles involved

"Rae—."

I repeated, interrupting Zac before he could stop

how bad of an idea this was, just as

he was also under the same orders to not

"Smuggling," Noah answered.

goods from

stopped there.I knew I should have stopped.No, I *definitely* shouldn’t have wanted to keep going....But I couldn’t seem to stop

I asked

me as if I were stupid for

else in this city would be shady enough to need

Fuck.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

An employee.

had been a goddamn

or a rivaling

...I killed an employee*.

been given instructions to bring him in at all? Was he trying to run away or snitch on my father? ...Did he find out something he shouldn’t have? And those

my father? Someone who would know better than most in this city what going against him

for a moment and stop tunnelling down a thought

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

wasn’t like the jobs I’d