Illusions of the island *A LOST fanfic*

Chapter 63: My research is to help, not for monetary gain

"Ed, how many more blood samples are you going to take from me?"

Juliet rolled her eyes at him. All she saw in his eyes were dollar signs.

"As many as you can give us Jules. Look at it this way: your research is helping a lot of women. They will have their families, and I get my millions. I guess I can give you some money for all your trouble. Everybody wins. How hard is that?"

She wanted to help all these women who were having trouble getting pregnant, but not at the cost of Ed.

"Helping all those women makes me feel like I really accomplished something. But the way you are going about it Ed, isn't what I envisioned."

Juliet wasn't frightened by her own research, she was more appalled than anything. Appalled that Ed still thought of it as dollar signs for him to make it into the big leagues. She continued her thought.

"I would hope Ed, that if you do go through with this, and use me as a guinea pig, you're seriously not thinking about using yourself."

Ed looked genuinely disgusted at Juliet's remark.

"Why in god's name would I put myself into the equation? I have no intentions of becoming a father. I don't even like children."

Juliet glared at a woman whose face she couldn't see as she approached Ed.

"Here are the test results you asked for Doctor Burke."

Taking the manila folder from the woman, Ed opened it and started reading. Juliet felt her entire body become tight with nervousness.

"Ed, is that my medical file?"

Now it was Ed's turn to glare at Juliet. But she didn't back down.

"No. These are the levels of hormones in your blood stream."

Anger was building inside Juliet now, and it was about to explode.

"Hormone therapy? I didn't give you permission to do that Ed."

Ed smirked and continued looking through the folder.

"Sure, you did. You signed a contract as soon as you came right through that door. You didn't have to be awake for it of course. Just have a look at the contract for yourself."

Another woman brought Juliet the contract in question.

"What? I never signed any contract... But this is my signature. Ed, you used my hand to write my name, didn't you? You forced my signature. This is a new low, even for you."

A strange sort of smirk appeared on Ed's face and Juliet didn't like where all this was going.

"You signed the contract, that means you are bound by it."

All the while, Juliet was thinking of ways to get away from Ed. It occurred to Juliet that Ed was more manipulative now than he'd been before. Crossing her arms, she put them in front of her defensively at first, then wrapped them around herself.

"I am not a baby mill Ed. You just want to make your millions, parade me around like someone in a sideshow, show the world that my research actually works and claim it as your own. My research is to help, not for monetary gain."

Ed furrowed his eyebrows in fake concern.

"Jules, don't you want to show the world that we can cure infertility?"

Before Juliet could respond, she felt a pinch in her arm and her eyes started to get heavy. The last thing she heard from Ed towards the masked woman was;

"Get her ready."

Juliet's mind screamed at her as the darkness began to swallow her. Get me ready for what?!

To Be Continued...