Having Issues Installing Sequoia 15.4

I have a 2012 iMac using an external SSD as the boot drive (I refuse to take apart the iMac even though it would be faster with an internal SSD). Here's the issue - I cannot install Sequoia 15.4. The iMac is refusing. I have gone through the install - hitting option to make sure it is rebooting to the SSD - but it always boots right back to 15.3. I have installed this update 15 times this past week. What do I do? I haven't found any threads on this issue and would really love some help!

Author: @Slow-Ad5226