[BOOK 6] 10 YEARS LATER...
Ten years ago, Aspen left Beacon Hills for good and never once looked back. The pack had mostly gone their separate ways over the years, living in all different parts of the country. But what brings them all back together...
( make sure you've read chapter 44 - the finish line )
045 | SHUT UP AND DRIVE
( shut up and drive — rihanna )
" baby you got the keys, now shut up and drive "
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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA / MANHATTAN, NEW YORK
_______________________________
ASPEN WOKE UP the morning after her wedding feeling on top of the world—in the arms of her first love, her epic love, her only love—nothing in this world could touch her. When she was home, she was safe. Or at least she felt like she was safe.
That feeling of safeness was sadly washed away when her eyes fluttered awake and she turned over to the bedside table of the Vegas hotel room—and switched on the phone beside hers—Allison's.
13:00:21
Thirteen hours – that's how long they had left until they'd be able to save Lydia. It was a strange feeling, an inexplicable one – to know that a timer was counting down the hours, minutes and seconds until your old best friend would try to kill you. Perhaps it was morbid—but Aspen wondered what method Allison would go for. Strangle her with her bare hands? Bullet to the brain? Silver arrow to the heart?
Aspen also wondered if she'd be able to fight Allison – because when it came down to accepting reality and shunning away delusion – Aspen knew that one of them would not walk out of this fight.
Selfishly, Aspen wanted to be the one to survive – why? Because she finally had a future to fight for – married to the love of her life, she could finally see herself having a family with him. That little girl from the adoption centre – she was something to fight for. A life with her husband who would be a wreck if she were to die – that was something to fight for.
But Aspen Bellator was always a being of selfishness and selflessness in equal measure. For every selfish thought, a selfless one accompanied it.
And selflessly – Aspen wanted Allison to have a second chance at life, and not this miserable, vengeful one she'd been given for the last decade under the rule of Theo Raeken – but an actual life. Allison never asked for this – she didn't deserve to become someone's puppet, a weapon of revenge that wasn't hers.
Selflessly – Aspen wanted Allison to live.
But even when she tried to break it all down to the facts, to logically calculate which one of them would outsmart or outstength the other in this do-or-die battle coming their way – Aspen could honestly say she had no idea what would happen. Because Allison was strong now – with every life she took under the alias of the Manhattan Murderer, her strength was built up. She was able to jump off fifty-story buildings and land to her feet without a scratch. A supernatural serum ran through her veins under the manipulation of Theo Raeken.
