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

ignored him as I went digging through

membership to a laundromat? I didn’t even know those

I found

sort of looks like that

Zac continued.

from a few days

the name on

the clean-up a few days ago?" I slowly spun

Zac...Kennedy is this guy’s

"Noah Kennedy."

turned to look at the man tied

Miles was an underground businessman

tried to pull a fast one over my

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

here because he was digging into his disappearance? ...If that

out the cloth

dumbest thing I could ever do...but I felt we were already

go, please,"

do anything.Just...don’t kill

related to Miles?" I

face blanked for a moment

"What about Miles?"

for people not answering my questions plainly.I’d

dagger into the wall directly next to his head, causing him to jump

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

me repeat myself for

managed to huff out a

"Howe"

brother,"

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

when was the last time you heard from

the bar on Saturday.I think he’s

him but it’s like he’s just disappeared....Is

That caught my attention.

‘Business’.

held my curiosity and yet I knew

the questions I had already

to investigate my father’s dealings, it was just

of me wanted to

find out whether or not his death sentence

so I asked the question I knew I shouldn’t

Miles involved

"Rae—."

Zac

bad of an idea this was, just as

was also under the same

"Smuggling," Noah answered.

supplies and rare goods from all

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

businessman?" I

he looked at me as if

in this city would be

Fuck.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

An employee.

had been a goddamn

or a rivaling businessman.He

...I killed an employee*.

in at all? Was he trying to run away or snitch on my father? ...Did he find out something

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

needed to pause for a moment and stop tunnelling

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

like the jobs I’d had