Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 127712 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127712 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
What was that? Some kind of hint? Who is she? A prisoner, like me? Or one of the privileged, like Mercer?
My eyes find Olsen’s and he nods. “You good?”
No time to think about it now. So I nod.
And just as I do that, the limo stops in front of Mercer’s private jet.
“Mercer will talk to you tomorrow. He’s done for tonight.”
“And Locke?” I have to ask, because I have to know. What part did he play? How big was it? Did he ever like me? Or was Mercer right and this world is nothing but a game?
“Locke was sent home this morning. I’m sure he’s waiting for Mercer at that fucking house they share.”
Olsen’s tone comes off as genuinely angry. Maybe even... jealous. And I wonder if this is real or just part of the game we’re playing.
“Sorry,” Olsen mumbles. “I shouldn’t have said it like that.”
I decide it’s real.
He and Locke really do have a thing, at least as far as Olsen is concerned. And Mercer is in the way.
We get out and board the jet. And the moment I step inside, I have flashbacks of sitting at Mercer’s feet. Right between his legs with his growing cock pressing against my cheek.
What the actual fuck was that about?
You know what it was about, Nova.
Nice to have you back, creepy British internal monologue. Thanks, by the way. Really appreciate the heads-up you could’ve clued me in on.
It was about submission. They were making progress on you. Really good progress. But you would not submit to him.
Until now.
Oh. Well. That actually makes sense. In a sick, brainwashing kind of way.
Mercer.
He’s the devil.
And I don’t really understand what Olsen’s plan is just yet, but whatever it is, I’m all in.
Because fuck Silas Mercer.
He wanted me to find my game? Well, I found it.
And that game is him.
I will ruin Silas Mercer.
I will make him regret he ever picked me up outside that prison seven years ago.
Olsen doesn’t want me to read any more of the book on the plane ride. I assume that’s because the staff works for Mercer. So I just close my eyes and rest until we land in New Hampshire.
But once we’re in the limo, Olsen reaches for the book in the coat pocket and nods his head at me to keep going.
This ride to the marina will be short and the only chance I get to understand what’s happening before I meet up with Patricia. So I read quickly, trying to capture all the details.
Here is what we have set up.
There is a meeting the night before your ‘first day on the island.’ This meeting takes place in Mercer’s house. You’ve gone to one of these pre-trial meetings forty-six times before tonight and none of those meetings are worth mentioning.
Mercer drills you, Locke paces, I sip whiskey and watch, counting the number of days I have left in my contract.
Until your memory fully recovers, you will not understand how important you are to this trial. But trust me, they need you, Nova. You are the only one who can get this drug pushed through the FDA. Your case is the only one worth writing about in a textbook. This drug is not just a money-maker for Big Pharma, it’s a way to control people. It’s a way to brainwash them. And it’s a way to make them want the brainwashing.
The FDA is as corrupt as they come, but even they won’t push through something like this without, at the very least, a pretense of safety. They need you because they need a drug that will last forty-two days.
A once-a-month pill. This is their goal.
You are the only participant who has made it past twenty-seven days without crashing out.
But they also need to show that the drug won’t wear off right at thirty days. What if people don’t have their next pill? There are a million reasons why someone might miss this pill. They cannot have hundreds of thousands of people crashing out into their previous personalities over a missed pill.
They need this pill to last six weeks.
And again, you are the only one who has made it that long.
The reason I’m wasting time on this is because you need to understand that you are important. They cannot afford to lose you now.
There is a whole slew of contraindications for this drug and they don’t care about any of them, except for one.
Pregnancy.
They’ve done the trials. The kids are… different. And this difference manifests very early in several ways.
I gasp and look up at Olsen again. Then I mouth, But you said I’m pregnant!
He points to the book. Keep reading.
Our plan is to get you pregnant. This will stop your trials. You will have to take one dose, of course. And that’s a risk. We won’t know how this will present in the baby, but we discussed it and together we decided it was worth the risk. The other alternative is that you stay in the clinical trials forever. They will never let you leave this island, Nova. Ever. They will do trials on you until you die. You are a rat. You are owned. You signed a contract giving up one prison sentence for another. And they will hold you to it.