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.

guy look sort of familiar?" I heard Zac say

I went digging through his

grocery store reward one...a rental shop...a membership to a laundromat? I didn’t even know those had

then, finally, I found his driver’s

sort of looks like

Zac continued.

one from a few

the name

slowly spun around to look at Zac,

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

"Noah Kennedy."

look at the man tied up

that Miles was an

pull a

have acquired problematic documents relating to him? But...‘clean

digging into his disappearance? ...If that were

and pulled out the cloth I’d stuffed

victim was possibly the dumbest thing I could ever do...but I felt

go, please,"

do anything.Just...don’t

Miles?" I

face blanked for a moment before becoming

"What about Miles?"

not answering my questions plainly.I’d already had

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

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

repeat myself for the

managed to huff out a ‘yes’, his

"Howe"

brother,"

the bridge of my nose,

when was the last time you heard from

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

I swear! I’ve been looking for him but it’s like he’s just disappeared....Is that why you’re here? Does this have

That caught my attention.

‘Business’.

my curiosity and

already asked was

dealings, it was just to carry out

a part of me wanted

not his death sentence today was

question I knew I shouldn’t

Miles involved with?"

"Rae—."

interrupting Zac

how bad of an

the same orders to

"Smuggling," Noah answered.

and rare goods from

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

I asked

at me as if I

course.Who else in this city

Fuck.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

An employee.

had been

some random criminal or a

...I killed an employee*.

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

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

to pause for a moment and stop tunnelling down a thought process that had

the 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 and stepped away, my brain swimming with a million different thoughts as for what

the jobs