Happy New Year!

I am going to try and get the last three chapters of this story out to you as fast as I can but I am going back to work tomorrow and my extra training for my Black Belt grading also starts tomorrow, so we will have to see how things go. But after this story, I am probably going to have to take another break, which is not what I want to do but I now feel like I have to plan and write the whole story before I even think about posting it. The next story was going to be Doctor Who anyway.

So this is sort of what everything has been building up to... sort of... Can you tell that I didn't know how to end this story?

'Cause I knew you were trouble when you walked in
So shame on me now

Chapter 23

There was always going to be things that would never change. One of them was going to be that Uther never left the office before midnight. She could see where his office was. The only light in the whole of the tower block. Pendragon Headquarters. Uther's pride and joy.

The way that Alvarr had his hand around her arm was beginning to hurt a lot and was very uncomfortable. She knew that if she tried to prize his hand off her arm, he would only tighten his grip. She just had to put up with it for a little longer. She had so many questions that she wanted to ask but she had already added them to the long list of questions that she would never get an answer to.

They stopped on the floor underneath Uther's office and Alvarr marched her from the lift into the main workspace and threw her into the closest chair. She was glad that she managed to land in the seat rather than fall on the floor.

"I am going to tell you exactly what I want you to do. In a minute, you are going to go up to Uther and demand that he signs over the company to you."

"Why?" She said, hoping that it would sound more like a question.

"I want to expand my business. Now I could work my arse off for the next 10, 15, 20 years and get nowhere. Or in the next hour, I could own a firm that is known as the biggest dealers in drugs. Not all of Uther's companies are as clean as you think. Uther may be all for ridding the streets of drugs but he is the one that is making sure that they are still king. With you at the head of this company, you will be the head of them all and I will get to control them all. You know that Uther helps to line the pockets of governments and the top ten richest people. I want a part of that. Expect I will use the money to arm the rebels that want to take down this government and every rich man that has ever turn their nose up at us. The route of all evil isn't anywhere else but here and I want to be king of that evil. Uther's reign will end tonight."

"And what if I refuse to do it?"

Morgana heard her voice sound shaky and she wished that she didn't feel as scared as she felt. She kept reminding herself that she was a Pendragon, not that she wanted to be. The Pendragons were brave and strong. That was at least what Uther had tried to drum into Arthur and herself when they were children.

"Oh, you won't refuse."

Alvarr stepped to one side to show Merlin sitting in a chair behind him. His left eye was already bruised and it looked like it was only going to swell more. There was a cut on his lip and he looked rather worse for wear.

"You know what. It was easier than I thought to keep you two apart. I mean Merlin's days were for Arthur and Uther and then I took his nights." Alvarr said as he walked over to Merlin and pulled on his hair to make him look up. "I wish that you took on that extra work. I would have liked to have seen what she saw in you."

Merlin only grunted when Alvarr pulled on his hair. Morgana didn't really know how to take what Alvarr was saying but she knew one thing.

"Don't hurt him. Please."

Alvarr only smiled when one of the men next to Merlin pulled out a gun and aimed it at his temple.

"We aren't going to hurt him unless you do exactly what you are told."

Morgana wished that she had the chat that she wanted to have with Uther months ago. She wished that she had told him the reasons why she left and what she had found out during her time away from London. She also knew that she would be the last person that he would want to see. They had only briefly spoken since she had been back it was more directed at Arthur. She might have been his favourite but things weren't the same between them as it was before she ran away. She no longer had him wrapped around her little finger.

His office hadn't changed in the years that she had been away. Not even a fresh lick of paint. It was like stepping into a memory when she opened the door when she was instructed to.

"What do you want?" He asked as she took the seat opposite him.

Uther had certain codes for his security. If he wanted to leave there was a special word that he would say that would alert one of the security to cut the meeting or dinner or whatever event he was attending short. There was also a word that meant that things weren't right and he might be in danger. Morgana just hoped that she had been listening properly.

"I want to talk about mother."

He looked up at her. "Your mother?"

"Well, you won't bring it up so I will have to. Of course my mother. My mother who was scared and had her name slandered by you so that I could be yours. Why wouldn't I want to talk about mother?"

She could tell that he wasn't really catching on and she felt like if this conversation was to go on any longer, Alvarr would start to know that something was up. He was more than likely listening into their conversation.

"Is that the reason you ran away?"

"I had to find out the truth. So many people were telling me different things, I had to find out the real truth. I might be your daughter but I didn't deserve to be some play piece in your politics."

"What do you want then?"

"This was all going to be mine. That was obviously before I ran away and Arthur had his accident. I still want this. This is mine by right. You know that I could do a miles better job at running this company than Arthur ever could. I have always had more business sense while Arthur has spent his life kicking a ball around a field. He thinks life is just one big party. I want you to sign the company over to me before Arthur gets his hands on it and ruins all your hard work."

Either she finally got through to Uther or he had seen someone walking around outside of his office, but she was grateful when he leant back and seem to press a button underneath the table. Either that or the bruises on her neck were starting to show.

"I suppose that if I don't sign over the company to you, you will release what you have learnt to the world. How much did you learn Morgana?"

"I know enough."

"Isn't this blackmail?"

"More of a personal vendetta against you. I am actually surprised that none has done this sooner with your dark, questionable past."

She didn't think that he was going to do it but she was surprised when he stood up to get something out of a safe before sitting back down.

"My questionable past?"

"The example that I am going to use isn't your questionable past but more your questionable present. There must be a link between you keep firing and rehiring Merlin and the fact that you paid for Freya's cancer treatment."

"You are right. There is a link. Something to ask him."

Morgana was about to question him when the door flew open. She knew that Alvarr would get impatient. The fact that she could see a gun dangerously close to her head in her peripheral vision scared her. She couldn't tell whether it was pointed at her or Uther without turning.

"Will you hurry up? You have already taken too long."

"You must be Alvarr," Uther said as he started to lay out the document. "I have heard so much about you. I am sort of glad that I can finally put a face to the name."

Uther signed it at the bottom before handing it over to Morgana to sign. She couldn't really see how this document was legal in any way but she signed it anyway.

"I guess that I wasn't going to get out of this alive as I can't hand Morgana over the company straight away, only on my death. But I am afraid that you are going to have to wait a couple of days for my solicitor to make it official."

"No problem. Get rid of the other one."

Morgana turned wide-eyed to see Alvarr dropping the walkie-talkie from his mouth. The next thing she heard was a muffled gunshot and she instantly feared the worst.