Alpha's Abandoned Daughter is the Secret Heiress novel Chapter 454

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Chapter 454: Why Don’t You Ask Me to Stay?

Chapter 454: Why Don’t You Ask Me to Stay?

(Author’s POV)

The escort vehicles caught up one by one, pulling to a stop along the roadside.

Theodore turned back toward the car.

Garrett and Victor climbed out, their faces carrying that particular mix of defiance and defeat that men

wear when they’ve already lost but haven’t yet accepted it.

Theodore looked at the guards stepping down from the escort vehicles and gave the order without raising

his voice.

“Take those two.”

The guards moved immediately.

Theron was still standing beside the car. He hadn’t been touched. His eyes found Theodore’s face with something painfully close to hope, his mouth already opening to say something careful and calculated.

Theodore cut him off before a single word came out.

“You’re Mason’s to deal with.”

The color drained from Theron’s face all at once.

*Mason.* The man he had wronged most deeply. The man who had just been sitting on a roadside with a

detonator in his hand.

*A living chance?*

He started to say something. His mouth moved. His hands reached out slightly.

The guards were already steering him toward a vehicle.

Theodore didn’t watch him go.

He turned, got into the car, and told Marcus to drive.

They had a location to reach.

The small town was unremarkable. Flat land, sparse trees, the kind of place that didn’t appear on any important map.

Theodore found the building Marcus had identified and walked in without hesitation.

What he found inside made him stop for exactly one second.

Theron was on the floor. He was breathing, but only barely. The sound of it was wet and labored.

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454 Why Don’t You Ask Me to Stay?

Mason stood over him, chest heaving, something clenched in one hand.

His eyes were still red.

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Theodore looked at the scene with an expression that didn’t shift toward pity or away from it. He simply

assessed it.

Then he spoke, his voice completely even.

“You don’t need to rush this. There’s no deadline.” He held Mason’s gaze. “You have the rest of your life to

settle what he owes you.”

Mason stared at him for a long moment.

Then he let out a slow breath and dropped the thing in his hand. It clattered against the floor.

He signed with both hands, his movements deliberate.

*Keep him alive. Everything else is yours to decide.*

Theodore nodded once.

Then he said, “Jasper is back at the Pack House.”

Mason went very still.

It was the kind of stillness that lives in a person’s chest, not their body. His hands didn’t move for several

seconds.

Then he shook his head.

He signed slowly, each word careful.

*Don’t tell him where I am. Let him start over. I don’t want him anywhere near these hands.*

He looked down at his own palms when he signed the last part.

Theodore looked at him for a moment.

He didn’t argue. He didn’t offer comfort that hadn’t been asked for.

“Alright,” he said.

He left two guards at the door, turned, and walked out with Marcus at his side.

(Amelia’s POV)

Jasper’s place wasn’t large, but it had the particular warmth of a space that someone had actually lived in.

Books stacked at odd angles. A half–finished sketch on the table.

Gideon stood in the middle of it looking like a man trying to remember how to be a grandfather.

When Jasper came out of the back room and saw the old Alpha King standing in his living space, he

stopped walking.

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<Chapter 484 Why Don’t You Ask Me to Stay?

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Neither of them spoke for a moment.

Then Gideon straightened his shoulders and said what he had come to say.

“I owe you an apology that no words can fully cover.” His voice was steady, but only just. “The Crimson family owes you a life. I’d like to offer five percent of the Crimson Moon Pack’s shares as partial

restitution.”

Jasper looked at him.

This was the man who had never known he existed. The man whose family had failed to protect him before he was even old enough to know what protection meant.

The silence stretched out.

Then Jasper said, “I won’t forgive what happened. I want to be clear about that.”

Gideon nodded. He didn’t flinch.

“But I’ll take the shares,” Jasper finished.

Something in Gideon’s expression shifted. Not relief exactly. More like a man setting down a weight he’d been carrying since he walked through the door.

“That’s enough,” the old Alpha said quietly.

Jasper packed light. A few changes of clothes, a worn notebook, the small things that actually mattered to him. He didn’t look around the apartment when he left.

I called Theodore from the car.

“We’re on our way back. Jasper’s with us.”

“Good.” A pause. “Stay for dinner tonight.”

I glanced at Jasper in the seat beside me, then at Gideon’s profile in the front.

“Are you cooking?” I asked.

“No.”

“Then yes,” I said. “I’ll stay.”

I could hear something that wasn’t quite a laugh on his end before he ended the call.

The Pack House dining room felt different with Jasper in it. Quieter in some ways. More complete in

others.

Seven o’clock came, and Theodore walked through the front door still carrying his cane, still moving with that unhurried authority that filled a room before he’d crossed half of it.

Jasper looked up from his seat.

Something shifted in his expression. His eyes brightened slightly, just for a moment. He gave Theodore a

Chapter 454 Why Don’t You Ask Me to Stay?

small, careful nod.

Theodore returned it.

Gideon asked the question that was sitting over the whole table.

“Garrett and Victor?”

Theodore took his seat before answering.

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“Relocated to the African territories. Both families. Twenty years before they’re permitted to return.” He reached for his glass. “I’ve left them ten percent of the local mineral company’s shares. They’ll have to manage it themselves if they want to see any return.”

Gideon considered that. “And Magnus?”

“Same arrangement. African territories, new energy plant, ten percent stake.”

The old Alpha was quiet for a moment.

Then he said, “Better than a cell.”

“Significantly more useful,” Theodore agreed.

Gideon turned to Jasper next.

“Have you thought about joining the Pack’s operations? There’s a place for you, if you want it.”

Jasper shook his head without hesitation. “I want to stay in the entertainment industry.”

He glanced briefly at me.

“I’m planning to sign with Amelia’s company.”

Theodore looked at his brother across the table.

“Whatever path you choose,” he said, “I’m your backing. That doesn’t change.”

Jasper was quiet for a moment.

Then, for the first time all evening, he said Theodore’s name out loud.

“Theodore.” He paused. “What happened to Mason?”

The table went still.

Theodore didn’t hesitate.

“He didn’t want to disrupt your life,” he said. “He’s left Ashford.”

It was a gentle lie, and everyone at the table who knew the truth let it stand.

Jasper looked down at his plate.

Something moved through his eyes. Bitter, and soft, and very old.

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