Ransom Center Austin

The throne is threatened as Thalisse, a humble village on the outskirts of Apharoth is attacked. Since the king had no heirs, there was no one left to save the royal family from being overthrown. In desperation, the king declares Gairoshi, an ancient practice where the next king will be selected through a series of duels. Bold men from all around the world flock to the center city to participate and try out their luck in this tiring and grueling competition. As different characters gather for this prestigious event, from the nobles, mighty men, people from the shadows, and down to the Thalisse victims, they cross each other's paths and fate reveals that there is more blood to Gairoshi than they expected.

My twin sister and I marry twin brothers from a powerful mafia family. She marries the elder, Leo Smith, a federal judge. I marry the younger, Sam Smith, a surgeon. While I'm hospitalized for a high-risk pregnancy, I'm abducted by criminals demanding ransom. They use my phone to call Sam 32 times, but every one goes unanswered. Enraged, one of the abductors beats my stomach with a baseball bat to vent his anger. I try desperately to protect my unborn child, but I lose the baby anyway. Finally, the abductor calls Sam one last time. This time, he answers, only to snap, "Annie almost miscarried. I was just taking her for a checkup. Can you stop calling and trying to get my attention?" With no ransom coming, the furious abductors tie me up and throw me into a swimming pool. Then, they leave. Just as I'm about to take my last breath, my sister arrives and pulls me out. Seeing me almost dead from the miscarriage, she calls Leo in a panic. But all she gets is a cold answer. "Currently punishing the man who nearly caused Annie Morgan's miscarriage. Do not disturb." She tries to call the police, but her phone dies. With no other option, she drives me away herself. On the way back, a sudden blizzard hits, and a landslide blocks the road. The car breaks down. We're trapped and shivering in the cold. Thankfully, a forest patrol finds us just in time. We survive. When we wake up in the hospital, the first thing that comes to us is that we have to get divorced!

Investigative journalist Justine Sky will go to great lengths to find out the truth. Even if it means rubbing elbows with the city's most feared billionaire. As a prime time crime solver, she’s tackled a great deal of scandals during her career, but nothing could prepare her for a life with Bentley Thomas. Because of his criminal past and merciless ambition to get to the top, Bentley has been the scapegoat for the people of Westlake, Texas. With all fingers pointing to him as Ivy Smith’s slayer, Justine becomes hellbent on exposing him. After pulling strings to get an invite into his mysterious world of luxury, Justine enters, thinking she'll be met by a cold and vicious mobster. Instead, he reels her in with soft charm and a passion that catches her off guard. Their chemistry is automatic, and Bentley is more of a hopeless romantic than she ever thought he could be. However, even though he's quite the charmer, Bentley does harbor secrets of his own. When Justine learns that he might have been the last person to see Ivy alive, her doubt settles in once again. It's her relentless fight for the truth and growing love for Bentley that makes her dig deeper. Only to find out that the killer is someone she knows very well. As the danger of the investigation sneaks closer, Justine is caught in a deadly game of ransom, and Bentley doesn’t hesitate to risk everything he has to save her. In a world full of lies, secrets, and betrayal, she has to trust someone. But is Bentley her most dangerous enemy, or the only one who has been telling the truth?

All it took was a day for her once perfect life to crumble before her very eyes. All it took was a little information to turn the entire pack against her. All it took was the revelation of a dark side to her existence for her mate to reject her. In the center of it all stood Elowen, betrayed by her best friend, her pack and her mate. She lost it all in one day but then they showed up. Her story isn't over, with them it is just the beginning. In a world of betrayal, heartbreak, and second chances, Elowen must rise from the ashes to claim the strength she never knew she had.

When I opened my eyes once more, Flora was holding me tightly. I had secretly loved her for a decade. Her warm lips kissed my neck, telling me not to leave. This time, I pushed her away and told the butler to send her to her first love's home. Her first love was Sean Graham. In my last life, Flora drank so much that she was drunk during the celebration organized for me to celebrate me for getting an overseas college's offer letter. After the celebration, I didn't refuse her when she wanted me to stay, and that wild night came to pass. The next morning, when Sean saw me coming out of Flora's bedroom, he pretended to be amiable and said he would make our wish come true despite the darkness in his eyes. Then, he disappeared for about one month. In the end, we found a blood-stained necktie in the mountains and the skeletal remains that had been feasted on by wild animals. Flora didn't sleep for an entire night as she held Sean's necktie in her hand. After that, it was like the discovery hadn't affected her at all, as she still passionately planned for my birthday trip. But that very night during the trip, I was abducted. I begged the kidnappers to beg Flora to pay the ransom, but I heard her personally give the orders. "Don't let him die too easily. He's just some scum of the earth. Do whatever you want with him. When you're done, dump him in the Northern Barrens and clean things up. He owes Sean this much!" Flora, I'm done playing by your rules this time around.

Maria is trapped in a loveless marriage with Damian Lee, a powerful conglomerate heir rumored to never stay loyal to one woman. But instead of fearing betrayal, she is trying to make it happen because if Damian cheats, she gains control of his company shares. To trigger it, she recruits Hannah Barker, a broke but sincere girl who accidentally gets pulled into a world of luxury, lies, and power games. As Hannah tries to survive her new job, she becomes unknowingly entangled in Maria’s scheme. Meanwhile, Damian remains an enigmatic figure at the center of everything: desired, misunderstood, and far more complex than either woman believes.

After receiving a divorce paper from her husband, six months after their marriage. Lisa tried to make their marriage work but was shattered by her husband’s affair with her cousin. Feeling betrayed and broken, she left to start all over. Six years later she becomes the most powerful woman in the underworld and a genius Doctor in the outside world. What will she do when she finds out the mafia who kidnapped her son for ransom to lure her to come and save the life of his dying fiancé is no other person but her Ex husband? Will she put aside her hatred towards the two and save her cousin’s life? or watch her die? Will she forgive her Ex husband for kidnapping his own son **** Trey Collins a ruthless, domineering and powerful CEO in the business world and a ruthlessly merciless man, who wouldn’t blink at the idea of murder, torture and making one disappear from the face of the earth without a trace in the underworld. Every lady in Pearl city dreams to become his wife, but also terrified of him by his powerful and deadly aura. Trey married Lisa just to spite his girlfriend, Valerie. After getting back together with his girlfriend, he asked for a divorce from his wife Lisa, but she refused to sign it. But when she signed the divorce papers, he was surprised but feigned nonchalance. He thought she didn’t want to let him go, he thought she would beg. But why does everything remind him of her after she left? He thought he wanted her out of his sight and life? No! He must reclaim what is his and his alone!!

When I was five months pregnant, I was kidnapped by a group of thugs. They used my phone to call my brother, Jeremy Wirkola, and my husband, Grant Sanders, to demand a ransom of ten million, but no one answered. I was tortured and assaulted until I was barely alive. When I was finally rescued, Jeremy cried and promised to avenge me. Grant was in tears too. He vowed to get me treated. However, while under the haze of anesthesia, I overheard Grant's cold voice outside the door. “Jessie is waiting for a bone marrow, but don’t forget to remove Ashlyn’s uterus. Just tell her the injuries were too severe to save it. Oh, and get the best surgeon for her. She’s afraid of pain.” His assistant hesitated. He was clearly uncomfortable. “Mr. Sanders, isn’t this going too far?” Grant paused for a second before he replied firmly. “She refused to donate her bone marrow to Jessie and even used the baby as an excuse. She’s selfish. Besides, if we don’t do this, how can I bring back Jessie and our child into the family? As for Ashlyn, she’s my wife. I’ll make it up to her for the rest of my life. She used to bully Jessie with her status, which resulted in Jessie suffering from depression and almost killing herself. It’s time she paid the price for it.” As I listened to his heartless words, something inside me shattered completely. Since they had chosen to sacrifice me for Jessie, let them have what they wanted then.

When I opened my eyes again, I was pinned against the floor-to-ceiling window of the skyscraper by my stepbrother, Rocco. The man I had been infatuated with for a decade. He panted, his hot lips and tongue trailing along my collarbone as he murmured, "Don't go." In my past life, on the night I received my acceptance letter from London Business School, Rocco got blind drunk. Late that night, I gave in to his pleas for me to stay. I willingly gave myself to him. After a debauched night, his cherished fiancée, Clara, caught me walking out of his room the next morning, my clothes in disarray. She ran out in tears, her parting words ringing in the air, "I'll let you have each other." A month after she disappeared, the family search party found her engagement ring at the edge of a cliff. At the bottom of the cliff lay mangled remains, battered by the waves until they were unrecognizable. Rocco clutched that ring and didn't sleep all night. On the surface, he acted as if nothing had happened, even arranging a trip for me to Sicily, telling me to go and relax. The night I landed, I was kidnapped by assassins from a rival family. I screamed for him to pay the ransom, only to hear him give the order himself over the phone: "Don't make her death a quick one. The Costello princess? She's nothing but a damn liability. Torture her. Break every bone in her body. " "This is what she owes Clara." You like playing games, Rocco. But in this life, I refuse to play along.

On the day of our ninth wedding anniversary, I sat in the empty living room and summoned the system I had not contacted in ages. "System, help me submit an application. I've decided to leave this world." The cold, mechanical voice came through, and somehow it sounded comforting. "Understood, Harry. Your departure application has been received. The space-time corridor is being constructed. I will come to retrieve you in one week." I hummed quietly and stared at my phone screen. A family photo of three stared back. In the photo, I stood in the center holding an adorable little girl. A beautiful woman stood beside me, kissing my cheek.