Ransom Center Austin

Deep in the night, the ballroom was filled with splendor and dazzling Jewells. Young women showed off their slim figures wearing tight-ass corsets. Eloise shrunk to the corner, adjusting his boobs in her makeshift bra. ‘Fuck who is crazy enough to wear a corset. They want to destroy their ribs, don’t they….’ “Eloise,” a middle-aged woman happily waved at her from the center of a huge crowd. Eloise back away. “that’s my cue to leave. No way am I going over there,” she subtly ran out of the ballroom into the hallway. The cold wind and salty droplets hit her face as she moved closer to the edge of the ship. Suddenly a man in a majestic three-piece suit walked up to her. It was duke Raymond. ‘he must have been chased around by girls. Poor guy having such a handsome face is also dangerous,’ she thought, casually sipping her wine. he moved dangerously closer, panting softly. “Duke you are too close.” She reminded him. He suddenly cupped her face and kissed her lips. His sharp tooth tore into her bottom lips. “hmmm!!” Blood dripped down their connected faces, staining her beautiful white dress red. Eloise pushed him away hurriedly. “Duke! What the hell…” Glancing up, she froze. His eyes were blood red. “I want your blood, Eloise… I want you so bad.” “Huh! I thought you were gay! Hey!”

My mom treated me like the dirt beneath her shoes but worshiped my cousin like a queen. Since I could walk, I had scrubbed clothes and cooked meals, but I would still be yelled at or smacked if I messed up. On the contrary, my cousin twirled in princess dresses and played the piano. She was cherished by my aunt and uncle like she was the center of their world. Then came the day everything changed. At my cousin's birthday party, my mom got drunk and spilled the secret—she switched me and my cousin at birth. It turned out that I wasn't her daughter; I was my aunt's daughter. I was over the moon. Finally, I thought I'd found my real family, people who might actually care about me. But when I told my aunt, she just smirked. "You think I didn't know? I don't want you. You'll never be my daughter." Her words hit me like a bucket of ice water. I couldn't understand. Why didn't anyone want me? But that day, I made a vow—I'd never beg for anyone's love again. Years later, when I got into Mayward University—the best educational institution in the country—I threw two DNA test reports on the table in front of them. For the first time, they both looked terrified.

As the wife of the Colombian cartel heir, Krystal Serrano is a symbol of diplomacy and control. Dressed in silk, wrapped in silence, and displayed like a crown jewel at the center of power. But behind the flawless smile lies a woman raised not just to survive, but to rule. When her husband's betrayal ignites a war with the Italian mafia, Krystal is taken. Kidnapped and hidden away by Zachary Romano, the young, ruthless Don who solves problems with bullets and buries questions with bodies. He thought he had captured a soft, obedient mafia wife. What he brought home was a storm in heels. Krystal doesn't beg. She doesn't break. Her silence provokes, her lips taunt, and her gaze slices deeper than any blade. Inside the stone walls of his private villa, control begins to slip. Hatred turns into tension. Tension burns into obsession. And in their world, love always comes with blood on its hands. The ring on her finger still binds her to a man who believes she belongs to him. But what happens when a woman like Krystal meets someone dark enough to understand her, broken enough to match her, and reckless enough to want her? Because there's a difference between loving a woman like Krystal… And trying to own her. And Zach Romano is about to learn—only one man can stand beside her. The rest will be buried.

The story you are about to read is inspired by a true story and refers to a time span of three years. During this time, various events take place. Love. Intrigue. Folly. Trips. Hopes. Vicissitudes. A love triangle will put a girl disputed between two important but profoundly different men at the center of attention. A princess. A commander. A sailor. A ship. Between one port to another, from one route to another, in an endless journey between sea and land , in different geographic locations around the world will happen à the unthinkable - in which the main protagonists of the story - it will help in moments of difficulty - but at the same time they will hate each other - struggling to re - establish their bonds and their role. At the seaside, life is different. You don't live by the hour but by the moment. We live by the currents, we adjust to the tides and follow the course of the sun. Cit. (Sandy Gingras) I want the sea to touch me, make me breathe the world and its whys, give me an eternal instant, which I will carry with me as an indelible memory. The sea is the mystery in which I immerse myself to rediscover my life. The sea. Cit. (Stephen Littleword) You can't be unhappy when you have this: the smell of the sea, the sand under your fingers, the air, the wind. Cit. (Irène Némirovsky) When love is true and sincere, it climbs over the mountains, the vastness of the sky and the sea. No human experience is greater than its strength. Cit.(Romano Battaglia)

When I'm accompanying my daughter, Alina Stone, to the hospital for a chemotherapy session, an employee from the social security center calls me. "Ms. Lewis, an error has occurred with the bank card that's set to receive your parents' pension. Please make sure to change to a new card." I'm left feeling stunned. My parents have been dead for three years. Why would they even receive more pension in the first place? After asking the employee, I find out that my parents' pension has been wired into the bank card as normal throughout the years. My husband, Christian Stone, was the one who had previously updated the bank card details at the social security center. Once I get home, I demand answers from Christian after playing him the recording of the phone call. He falls silent for a very long time before telling me the truth. It turns out that he never registered my parents' death back then. Till now, their corpses have been stored in a freezer in my childhood home. That bank card had received a total of 90 thousand dollars' worth of pension over the past three years. Christian has given all of the money to his ex-wife, Lydia Swanson, in order to support her financially. But the thing is, he never gave me a single cent for Alina's treatment before.

Welcome to the heart of Ingris continent; Warshwall City. A city of martial arts and magic. A city full of ranker, hunter, and adventurers. A place you can earn a leaving, wealth, power, and prestige. Here live the twins sharing a body, a transcender find themselves at the heart of the forest of Gatoh. Denizens call them "The Blight Twins", because of their unique feature they're the center of condemn and attraction. The conjoined twins register as an adventurer and a role of a scout. They aim to be one of the greatest adventurers and a ranker of the guild. Zia is a hardcore novel reader, she only read Isekai genre or travel to another world. While Vic loves romance and slice of life. As an avid reader and other worlder, Zia was expecting some cheat system from a God, whoever he or she is. Even though they had the same body, they're different in nature. Vic, want to learn magic while Zia loves martial arts. Zia is more energetic and dominant, she always decides to the day to day everyday life. Their life at the city are smooth... not until the hunting game begins. A part of secretive society takes an eye for the twins. Overwhelming strength and mana capacity, an eye catching test subject. They lured the twins within their grasp, giving them 2 options and a gift: Join them or be one of the dead; living a life in a single body but only one leaves a tale. Proceeding the ritual without revealing the truth to the other-half, and killed in the most satisfying way.

We were stuck on the highway in the middle of the Christmas travel rush. My husband’s childhood friend had not only taken the passenger seat from me, but she had also propped her bare feet up on the center console. “Don’t take it to heart, Yvonne. I’m just a casual person and like to be my true self, unlike you and your fake propriety,” Michelle Gail said. As she spoke, she snatched my phone right out of my hand and read a holiday greeting from a male colleague aloud. “Oh, you have quite a few backup options, don’t you? I bet you cheated on Charles a long time ago.” My husband, Charles Carter, however, only defended her. He said, “She’s just being casual. Don’t be so petty as to hold it against her.” I smiled. They did not know that I had accidentally been bound with a system before. As the system had bound the wrong person, it promised to fulfill one wish for me unconditionally as compensation. Without a moment of hesitation, I swapped the system for the “Forget Common Sense System” and bound it to Michelle. Since she was so “casual,” why would she need a sense of shame? Why would she even need to wear clothes? Since the highway was so congested, she might as well go for a wild run on the road!

Elena Hart once believed she had a perfect life—married to powerful billionaire CEO Adrian Kingsley and trusting her closest friend, Sophia Bennett. But everything collapses the night Elena discovers Adrian and Sophia together. Accused of betrayal and forced into a humiliating divorce, she is cast out and blamed for destroying the marriage. Broken and alone, Elena disappears, leaving behind the world that judged her without knowing the truth. Three years later, a mysterious and powerful businesswoman begins shaking the corporate world by quietly acquiring companies connected to Adrian’s empire. Elegant, confident, and far stronger than before, Elena returns under a new identity. She is no longer the abandoned wife—they now stand in her shadow. At the center of the story are complicated relationships. Elena and Adrian share a past built on love, misunderstanding, and deep betrayal. Sophia, once Elena’s best friend, now stands as her greatest rival, determined to keep her secrets buried. As Elena’s return disrupts their lives, tensions grow and old emotions resurface. Like the raw honesty captured in Music for Chameleons, where contradictions define identity, each character in this story hides truths behind carefully built masks. But as Elena moves closer to uncovering what really happened the night her life collapsed, one question remains—was Adrian truly her betrayer, or was someone else manipulating everything from the shadows?

Joaquin was never the type to get rejected. He has and will always get whatever he wants, including the wife of his late brother. He wanted her, he always do. He had him first but she married him. And now he has the chance of his life, he will have her naked in his bed, moaning his name as they make love. *** Joaquin was known as the cold and merciless Alpha, he grew up with his parents holding him on the neck. They want power, he gave them. They want to be served like royalty, he gave them. He always give what people wants, what his pack wants. He's an Alpha of his words and he will do anything to please anyone. While Fiona, a packless lone wolf who married the Beta of Aragon pack, the pack that was leaded by his brother-in-law, Joaquin. She has always been the center of rumor, a lone wolf like her was a bad news to everyone, including her parents in law. She was neglected, rejected and judged by many. When Her husband died because of the rogues attack, Joaquin was set to follow her wherever she goes, whatever she does. She didn't know his secret and she wouldn't want to know. For Joaquin secretly know she was his mate, and he will do everything to pursue her. He will have her, whatever it may cost.

At the Colonetti family banquet in New York, I stood in the center of the grand hall with more than a dozen girls from different families, all of us waiting to be chosen. Victor, the heir of the Colonetti family, was supposed to announce his fiancée tonight. Along with that announcement, he would present her with the family heirloom, a lily brooch. As an illegitimate daughter of the family, I understood that if I didn’t receive that brooch tonight, it meant I would be sent to Chicago for an arranged marriage. Victor, who had once promised to marry me, changed his mind without warning. With a smile, he pinned the lily brooch onto the chest of the woman standing beside me instead. Then, he leaned close to my ear and whispered, “Let your sister Emily have her moment today. She’s also an illegitimate daughter like you, and she’s also never been valued growing up. Don’t worry. With me here, no one will force you into an arranged marriage.” Even as I looked at him with pleading eyes, he reached out and let Emily take his arm. “Emily is kind and gracious,” he said. “She deserves the lily brooch.” Those words—kind and gracious—turned me into the joke of the entire evening. The next day, I boarded a flight to Chicago alone, but Victor panicked. He used every connection he had and managed to ground every flight heading to Chicago.