A/N: Sorry for the long wait, my cat died, so life sucks even more. Lets just leave it at that.
Chapter 10
It was done. Merlin told him everything, and Cenred's unreadable expression was sending a hot, uncomfortable feeling in his stomach. The kind of feeling he felt when he might throw up. Cenred brought his hand to the back of his ear and gently scratched.
"You mean to tell me, you had thousands of dollars given to you by Uther Pendragon, to keep you away from his son. Only you DID'NT want to take the money until Arthur made the choice, literally choosing his own fame over you."
Merlin nodded gently, never taking his eyes off Cenred's.
"And you have taken the money and. . . what was it you bought again?" Cenred asked, even though he already knew because Merlin just told him half an hour before.
Merlin opened his mouth to answer but Cenred beat him to it. "How much of their business do you have so far?"
Merlin knawed at his bottom lip. "Almost 70%."
Cenred rubbed the center of his forehead.
"Please dont be mad, I am so sorry I never told you." Merlin added ergently. But Cenred only shook his head.
"I'm . . not mad actually." He gave a small breathy laugh. "I'm actually quite proud." His brows very slightly narrowed.
Merlin frowned in confusion. "Proud." He repeated, unsure if he heard right.
Cenred then gave a small laugh. "How in the world did you get to own more than either of them? How could you afford to?"
Merlin cleared his throat then licked his lips. "Well, $500,000 can only go so far, so I invested half, it's been rising even since. Plus my book store. So, I bought 10% from one seller, 20% from the second and 30% from Morgana Pendragon. I'm still paying her off."
That got Cenred's attention. "His daughter?"
Merlin nodded. "Alot of these people hate working for the Pendragons, even their own family. Morgana sold me hers when she moved to the U.S. She wants nothing to do with Uther, so she sold me hers for half the price. But it's still alot of money, and since she wanted to get out as fast as possible, she agreed to let me pay four payments until I pay her off."
Cenred's brows raised in amazement. "That's brilliant. Merlin smiled. "How much do you have? Money, I mean." Cenred asked curiously.
Merlin exhaled deeply with a smile. "Millions. Stocks go up, the business is rising."
Cenred's smile slowly faded. "Wait. You own more of Pendragon Corp than either Pendragon does."
Merlin nodded in agreement. "I do."
Cenred suddenly stood up from a chair he was sitting in. "Don't you think the Pendragons would know who their partners are. They could be the ones who did this, Merlin. They hired someone to get those files from you. They probably knew the whole time." He breathed out a slow breath. "Merlin these men are dangerous. They live for their work, they could . . ."
Merlin shook his head. "That's what I wanted to tell you, Cenred. It's not only my name on the papers they took."
Cenred stopped in his tracks and frowned.
"It's ours." Merlin continued. "It was going to be my wedding gift to you. Half my share. I was just waiting until after we were married to . . ." He was cut off by lips suddenly on his, and hands holding his face in place. And when Cenred pulled away, the man only stared with caring love.
"You would give me half?" Cenred asked disbelieveing.
"Of course." Merlin whispered low. "You're not mad?"
"Why would I be mad? Merlin, you would give me half your business. That's more than anyones ever given me."
"I forged your name." Was all Merlin could say.
Cenred shrugged. "Surprisingly, I don't care. You did it out of love, and caring. That's all I care about."
Merlin slowly stood from his seat and walked the two steps to Cenred, then gently wrapped his arms around him. "I can't wait to get married."
Cenred gently pulled away.
Merlin sucked in his bottom lip. "Let's get married today."
Review Please :)