I am so sorry that I haven't uploaded. In all honesty, I have had this chapter written for a while but I wanted to wait until I had written the next chapter before posting. That took longer than expected due to the Christmas period. Kinda want to get this done before the new year as I have a big year ahead of me and will need to plan my time better. Because, if you have been with me for a long time you will know that I study karate, in July, I will be going out to Denmark and will be doing my Black Belt grading. I am excited but also know that I have a long road ahead of me. Changes will come with the extra training that I will need to do but that is for me to sort out.

Maybe this song is quite fitting for the new year.

Everything is changing
And I've been here for too long

Chapter 20

Merlin had fallen into some routine when it came to the three jobs that he had. For some reason, Uther was enjoying having him around, basically being more Arthur's chauffeur and it seemed to suit what Alvarr had planned for him as well.

He would go to work at Pendragon HQ and do whatever Arthur needed him to do. If they left the building, then the package with what he had to deliver that night would have been given to him during the day. If they didn't leave Pendragon HQ, Merlin would find someone waiting by the door to his flat to give it to him. The location of each package varied a lot. Some were houses, some were street corners and some were remote locations between 20 minutes to an hour outside of London. He would hand over the package and he would be handed an envelope of money. He never counted it. He didn't want to know how much money he was being handed in cash. He felt like it was better if he didn't know. After he dropped off the package, he would have to go to the warehouse to drop off the money. He always hoped that the money wasn't short.

He would then go back home to try and get a few hours of sleep before he had to his actual, real job that wasn't illegal or at least had some legal operations.

Merlin knew that he had to not ask questions. His quizzical mind wanted to know but he knew that is wasn't worth the grief that he would get for asking the questions. The less he knew, the better.

He did get something out of it all. It was only after the first month that he was told that on every Friday he was to go and the proportion of money that was his. He had worked the first month for free, probably to test whether he was worthy or not. The envelope felt dirty and heavy, but opening it up and seeing two grand in cash shocked Merlin but also felt like the answer to some of his problems. He wasn't short on cash. He had a few savings and he could make it from month to month comfortably. But it was those little extras that he missed. He couldn't actually remember the last time he didn't buy clothes that he didn't wear to work or the last time he properly treated himself. The money was dirty money. It was wrong to have this much money from doing that.

Merlin didn't particularly care whether he had his fair share. It was supposedly a cut of what he had collected but he had never counted it so he had to just trust that it was his cut per say.

All he knew was that he couldn't just walk into the bank and deposit it straight into his account. It just looked instantly suspicious and he didn't think he could pass it off as birthday money. He could bank it slowly but he knew that he could probably only make two or three deposits a month and by that time he would have more cash. He would just have to start spending it and just hope that no one asked any questions.

He just wished that he had the time to take Morgana out.

Morgause wasn't wrong. Alvarr knew and even if he hadn't told her that, Morgana knew that he knew. It was the only reason she could see that he wanted her on board in the 'company' that he had kept hidden from her for the last couple of years. She wished that she could see Merlin. Just spend a night with him. It would take her mind off the fact that Alvarr had her counting the money that was coming in and splitting it into the wages that the dealers would get.

She tried not to think about where the money had come from or the type of people that had delivered the drugs and what sort of power Alvarr had over them. She was certain that most of these people must have been manipulated into doing it. She didn't think that anyone actually wanted to be a drug dealer.

She was glad that she didn't know a lot. All she knew was the 'route' number, how much they brought in and how much they were to get. The envelopes that she had to put the money in were already numbered. She just had to count it out.

"Why is route 15 getting so little?" Morgana asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I got it last month. They had only been doing it for a month and you said that was what I was meant to give them. But he is still getting the same amount."

"He is the new guy."

"But he is only getting 3% of what he brought in. The others are getting like ten to 15%. And he is bringing in the most money. £65 grand this month."

"Morgana, you obviously don't know how this business works. I am whetting his appetite. I am showing him what he can earn. I will raise it next month to 5%. He has the taste for it now. The more money I give them, to begin with, the greedier they get. They start making their own cuts on the side. This guy is doing well. The customers like him. He deserves a bit more for just that."

There was a way that Alvarr could always just make her feel disgusting. She didn't know how much longer she could pull off the 'I fell asleep while visiting Morgause' plan that she had been doing for the last month or so. She couldn't stand to be around him any more. But she also felt she had to make it seem like nothing was wrong at the same time.

At that moment, Morgana really wished that she was working for Uther instead.