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.

sort of familiar?" I heard Zac say behind

I ignored him as I went digging through

shop...a membership

then, finally, I found his

of looks like

Zac continued.

one from a few

said, reading the

guy from the clean-up a few days ago?" I slowly spun around to look at Zac,

this guy’s

"Noah Kennedy."

turned to look at the man tied up

what was his connection to him? I’d thought that Miles was

to pull a

else would he have acquired problematic documents relating to

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 y accidental lapse

pulled out the cloth

the dumbest thing I could ever

let me go, please," he immediately

anything.Just...don’t kill

Miles?" I asked,

face blanked for a

"What about Miles?"

in the mood for people not answering my questions plainly.I’d already had my fill

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

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

repeat myself for the

huff out a ‘yes’, his head quickly bobbing up and

"Howe"

brother,"

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

last time

showed up at the bar on Saturday.I think

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

That caught my attention.

‘Business’.

that held my curiosity and yet

the questions I had already asked was already way

father’s dealings, it was

of

whether or not his death

so I asked the question I knew I shouldn’t

Miles

"Rae—."

repeated, interrupting Zac before he could stop

bad of an idea

the same orders to

"Smuggling," Noah answered.

for that wealthy businessman in town.Gets in supplies and rare goods from all over.The best at what

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

businessman?" I asked

at me as if I were

Reid, of course.Who else in this city would be shady enough to need a

Fuck.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

An employee.

been

a rivaling businessman.He was

...I killed an employee*.

bring him in at all? Was he trying to run away or

betray aman as powerful as my father? Someone who would know better than most

tunnelling down a

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

wasn’t like the jobs I’d