The Heiress With Seven Secret Identies (Stella Shaw) novel Chapter 95

Chapter 95 Pleading for a Chance

“You… you hit me again?”

+5 Pearls

Amber’s voice came out in a disbelieving squeak. Her hand pressed against her cheek, fingers splayed over the blooming red marks.

“Miss Shaw, that’s enough.” Sienna’s voice was tight with outrage. She couldn’t understand it–how could Elias possibly want a woman like this?

“Anyone who talks about my mother pays.” Stella’s voice was flat, but the cold radiating off her was anything but. Standing too close felt like stepping into a freezer.

“She’s your aunt. Is this how you treat family?”

Felix slammed his cane against the floor, hard enough to split tile.

Stella’s laugh was short and sharp. “Felix. You don’t actually think I took that DNA test so I could become some precious Moore princess, do you?”

“Isn’t that why?”

Stella let out a cold smirk. “It’s not.”

At that, Jasper’s heart sank a little. “Stella…”

A cold smile curved Stella’s lips. “I wanted to know who my biological father was. Now I know it’s Jasper. Which means I can sue Amber.

“For what?” Felix’s voice was dangerous.

“Defamation. Slander. Repeatedly calling me a bastard. Implying my father was some random stranger. Smearing my mother’s name.”

“You’d never win that case.”

Stella shrugged, utterly unconcerned. “Winning isn’t the point. The point is dragging her through the mud. Making sure everyone in this city knows exactly what kind of person she is.”

“She’s your elder.”

“I’m not here to join the family.”

Stella was done. She’d get answers another way–on her own terms. She reached for Elias‘ hand and turned

toward the door.

“Stella.”

Jasper’s voice cracked.

“Wait. Please. Don’t go.”

9:51 am

Chapter 95 Pleading for a Chance

She kept walking.

“Stella–please. I was wrong. Dad was wrong.”

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He caught up to them outside, throwing himself in front of their car, palms pressed flat against the hood. His face was ash–white, eyes desperate, lips trembling.

“Please. Just let me explain.”

He leaned against the windshield, begging her to roll down the window, to look at him, to give him one second of her time.

Who would’ve believed it? Jasper Moore–always so composed, so put–together–reduced to this. Blocking a car with his own body, tears threatening to spill.

Stella rolled down the window. Her face was blank. Empty.

“Every single day,” Jasper’s voice shook, “I looked for your mother. Every single day. I know I broke my promise. I know that’s why she was taken, why she suffered, why she-” His voice broke. “I know it’s my fault.”

He swallowed hard.

“But please. Don’t shut me out. You’re all I have left of her. Please. Let me make it up to you. Let me try.”

Stella watched him. Unblinking. Like she was studying a stranger.

“That night. Where were you supposed to meet?”

Jasper’s breath caught. “Under the cherry tree. At the Azure Peak University entrance.”

“Then why was she in Jenston?”

Confusion flickered across his face. “What?”

“Mom was taken in Jenston. Kidnapped, specifically. And I don’t think your family is innocent in this.”

Stella’s voice stayed steady, but something behind her eyes flickered–just for a moment. She felt something for this man, she realized. Some pull she didn’t want to name. He’d loved her mother. She could see it. But that didn’t change what happened.

“If the Moores had anything to do with what happened to Nicole-“Jasper’s voice hardened, sharpened into something dangerous. “You won’t have to lift a finger. I’ll handle it myself.”

Stella studied him for a long moment.

“You’re not well. Go back inside.”

She rolled up the window and nodded to Elias.

“Don’t go-!”

Jasper ran after the Rolls–Royce until it disappeared around a corner, until his lungs burned and his legs

Chapter 95 Pleading for a Chancel

+5 Peal

gave out.

“Mr. Moore. Come back inside.”

“From now on, keep every Moore away from me. My daughter doesn’t want them near.”

Cody hesitated. “Understood.”

Too wired to rest, too shattered to recover, Jasper had Cody dig up everything. Everything about Nicole. Everything about Stella.

The internet made it easy. Stella was famous.

Five years old. She’d been five years old when Nicole died.

She’d watched her mother die–right in front of her. Then spent a year living with the man who killed he After that, a convent. Years in a convent.

Jasper’s chest felt like someone was tearing it open with their bare hands.

Nicole.

If he hadn’t suggested they run away together, she wouldn’t have disappeared. She wouldn’t have suffered She wouldn’t have died.

It was his fault. All of it.

He’d wanted to die when he learned she was gone. What was the point of going on?

But they had a daughter. His daughter. Nicole’s daughter. That child had clawed her way through hell to become who she was today, and he hadn’t been there for any of it.

He would be now. He’d protect her. Make up for every lost year. The first half of her life had been nothing but pain. He’d spend the rest of his making sure every single second was filled with something else.

“Cody.” His voice was low. “Amber’s going to cause problems for Stella. Put people on her. If she lays one finger on my daughter, I’ll end her.”

Cody’s brow furrowed. “Mr. Moore… Miss Moore is your sister.”

“Let me be clear.” Jasper’s eyes were flint. “The only family I have is my daughter. Spread the word to everyone in the group. Stella Shaw is the sole heiress. Anyone who disrespects her answers to me.”

“Understood, Mr. Moore.”

Jasper pressed a hand to his chest, trying to slow his racing heart.

Back then–Frederick had said the Moores told him Nicole left with someone else. That was why he’d stopped looking.

But Nicole was taken. Kidnapped. In Jenston.

Someone had lured her there. Who?

3/4

0:51 am P

Chapter 98 A Father’s Confession

D

+5 Pearls

With Harlow Villa seized and the court ordering Derek to pay restitution–money the Harlow family didn’t have–the only option was auctioning the property. Jasmine’s life was about to get very hard.

“The village got a letter. Anonymous. Said if anyone wanted a wife, go to Jenston. There was a photo of your mother with it.” Derek’s voice was rough. “I took one look and I had to have her. Paid top dollar.”

“Why didn’t you ever say anything?”

“You never asked.”

“The letter?”

“Burned it.”

He’d been terrified that digging deeper would add more charges. Even if he talked now, there was no evidence left.

But if it kept Jasmine out of detention? Worth it.

Stella talked to others from White Pit Village who’d been sentenced. They told the same story. But that didn’t change the fact they’d kidnapped and trafficked her mother.

Stella’s jaw tightened. The Moore servant who lied to her brother. Whoever sent that letter to White Pit Village, luring her mother there to be taken. Who orchestrated it all?

Felix?

Amber?

Whoever it was, when she found them, they’d wish they’d never been born.

*****

The next day.

Harlow Villa sat sealed, an auction notice plastered across the front gates. Jasmine stared at her home–at the foreclosure sign–and felt nothing but hatred.

The court had seized everything. The house. Her accounts.

She’d never been short on money before. Now they were squeezing her dry.

Desperate, she went to Thorne Villa. Found it sold. Empty.

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