Ransom Center Austin Novels & Stories

She lied against him once. Now he owns her completely Years ago, Loretta Sterling was manipulated into lying against the billionaire, Elion in court. Her words cost him three years in prison. But prison didn’t break Elion, it destroyed and rebuilt him. Elion Fitzpatrick returned colder and cruel; he now sits at the center of the Global economy, where companies rise or crumble to dust whenever he pleases. And Sterling Enterprises is next. When he buys ninety percent of the company under their very nose, the Sterlings' family has no choice but to succumb to his every bidding, including offering Elion the one thing he wants more than anything; Revenge. Through contract marriage. Loretta’s hand in exchange for what they have left, Refuse — and he destroys everything her ancestors had built. The terms are simple, He owns her freedom, He owns her life and he plans to make her suffer for every single second he spent locked up in cell They say revenge is best served cold but what Elion feels towards Loretta burns hotter than hell. Things begin to grow complicated when hatred turns into tension. Tension into an insatiable hunger It was meant to be a game of power: one winner, one loser. Falling for the enemy was never part of the plan. Will Loretta survive the monster she created, or will Elion in his quest for revenge destroy the one person who makes him feel alive?

When I arrived at my wedding in my bridal gown, I found an octagonal fighting ring set up in the center of the stage. My fiance, Derek Hale, was holding the hand of his "girl bro," Chloe Shaw. With a smile, he handed me a pair of boxing gloves and explained, "Vivian, this is a tradition from my hometown. The bride has to get into the ring and wrestle one of the groomsmen for good luck. I asked Chloe to go up. Just play along for a minute." Looking at Chloe, who was always acting frail and sickly, I did not think much of it and stepped straight into the ring. But the next second, she threw an extremely professional spinning kick and knocked me unconscious with a severe concussion on the spot. When I woke up, I was paralyzed in a hospital bed. Derek stood there holding Chloe's hand and said to me, "Our relatives and friends gave us so much wedding money. The wedding can't go on without a bride. Chloe is willing to take care of me in your place. You're so kind, Vivian. You won't mind, right?" Under the torture of humiliation and severe depression, I pushed my wheelchair off the rooftop of our wedding home. When I opened my eyes again, I was back one month before the wedding. I turned around and knocked on the door of a national-level kickboxing champion training base. "Coach, if I trained for a month, can I punch someone's head open?"

During my vacation, I'm in the middle of a riverside stroll with my wife, Wendy Summer, when I suddenly hear someone screaming. "Please! Save my drowning son!" Before I can regain my senses, Wendy, who's pregnant, quickly pushes the crowd apart and rushes toward the center of the conflict. "I'm a doctor, so I can help save the patient. I'll perform CPR on him right away." As Wendy speaks, she moves to lean over the patient. But that's when I grip her by the wrist tightly. "You're not allowed to save him. If you dare administer CPR to him, we'll get a divorce." Wendy stares at me in shock. "Have you gone nuts? Healing the sick and treating the injured is a doctor's duty! You're a doctor as well, Rowan! How could you say such things?" The onlookers begin admonishing me. "If you don't heal the sick and treat the wounded, then what sort of doctor are you? You're just an unethical bastard!" "I can't believe doctors like you still exist! You have no right to remain as a doctor! I'm going to record your actions and upload the video to the Internet!" I say firmly to Wendy, "We shall not be discussing this matter. If you save him, we'll get a divorce right away!"

Aria Collins wakes up after a mysterious night she cannot fully remember, trapped in fragments of memory she cannot trust. Days later, she is unexpectedly hired into Blackwood Enterprises, a powerful corporate empire where she is placed directly under the authority of billionaire CEO Damien Blackwood. Unknown to her, Damien is the same man from that missing night, and he recognizes her immediately—but chooses silence instead of truth. As Aria navigates her new job, she begins experiencing emotional and memory distortions that blur her sense of reality. Damien maintains strict control over their interactions while quietly becoming obsessed with her presence. Every encounter between them increases tension, pulling Aria deeper into confusion she cannot explain. The situation escalates when Victor Harrington, a rival billionaire CEO, enters the conflict and begins using Aria as a strategic weakness against Damien. His manipulation exposes cracks in Damien’s control and pushes Aria into the center of a corporate war. What begins as a professional role quickly transforms into emotional entrapment between two powerful men. As hidden truths begin to surface, Aria discovers that her missing memory is not accidental—and that both men are connected to what she cannot remember. Betrayal, obsession, and power collide as she is forced to confront a reality she never chose. In the end, she must decide whether truth is worth the pain it carries—or whether walking away is the only way to survive.

She was never supposed to exist. Not as herself. Not with her real name. Not with the truth of what she carries in her blood. Julia Bennett was hidden before she could walk — erased from a world of power and old money and carefully buried sins, raised in silence while the family that should have claimed her tore itself apart from the inside. She was never meant to inherit anything except survival. But the dead don't stay buried. And neither do heirs. Now she's standing at the center of everything she was kept from — a legacy built on betrayal, a name that makes powerful people nervous, and two men who have been circling her world long before she knew they existed. One protects her like she's something to be controlled. The other has been watching her entire life for reasons she's only beginning to understand. And somewhere in the shadows — a name she doesn't recognize yet. V. Mercer. Patient. Precise. Already moving. Julia isn't looking for love. She's looking for the truth about who murdered her mother, who wants her dead, and why the people closest to her keep choosing silence over answers. But the truth in this world doesn't come without a cost. And in a game where trust is a weakness, desire is a weapon, and every person she needs is hiding something — the most dangerous thing Julia Bennett can do is refuse to break. Because someone built this trap before she was born. And she intends to burn it down.

Elena Vale has spent her life enduring cruelty as the unwanted stepdaughter of a wealthy family. When she is arranged to marry her father’s best friend’s arrogant son, she accepts, hoping to finally secure her place in the world. But on the eve of her wedding, a mysterious call lures her into a trap set by her best friend, Sandra,leading to a scandalous encounter with the powerful billionaire Adrian Blackwood. By morning, Elena’s life is destroyed. Branded a disgrace, abandoned by her fiancé, and publicly disowned by her family, she becomes the center of a media storm she cannot escape. Just when everything seems lost, Adrian steps in, not out of kindness, but control and power .He offers her a contract marriage for protection. With nowhere else to turn, Elena agrees, stepping into a world of power, rules, and dangerous emotions. As their fake marriage begins to blur into something real, Elena discovers Adrian’s hidden connections to her painful past, shattering the fragile trust between them. Betrayals deepen, old enemies resurface, and a long-buried love returns, pulling Elena in a different direction. But when she walks away to reclaim her life, she uncovers a secret that binds her to Adrian forever, a child he knows nothing about. Years later, their paths collide again, and Adrian returns, no longer asking but claiming what is his, his wife, his child, and the love he once failed to protect. In a story of heartbreak, power, and redemption, Elena must decide if she can forgive the man who ruined her… or risk losing the only love that has ever truly fought for her.

Leila, a young Austrian aristocrat and student in Classics, is drawn into a world of conspiracy and danger when her aunt is involved in a suspicious car accident. Leila travels to her aunt’s chalet to take care of her husky, but soon discovers a body in the drawing room. Terrified, she runs out and bumps into Dick, a nosy English banker who becomes entangled in the mystery. When they return to the drawing room, the body has disappeared. Leila takes the husky for a walk and discovers that the body has been moved to a house recently purchased by another branch of her family. She finds a notebook with encrypted entries in the drawing room and uses her linguistic skills to decode them. She discovers the initials, address, and phone number of someone involved in the plot. Leila calls the number and is warned against getting involved. Undeterred, she discovers a bizarre research center where a conference on German mystical past is taking place.She suspects that there is a bizarre cult operating underground. Leila learns about their plan to topple every democracy in Europe. The cult is after an artifact that may be hidden in her aunt’s chalet. However, this is only the tip of the iceberg. Leila discovers that the aristocratic cult members are pawns in a larger game. They are unknowingly being manipulated to cause disruption in the European banking system using an AI virus.The chaos will cause turmoil in the Euro zone. As Leila and her aunt race against time to stop the virus from being unleashed, they uncover an even more shocking truth: Leila’s own family members are part of the conspiracy. With betrayal and danger at every turn, Leila must use all of her wit to outsmart the cult.

---> if you are interested in my work, please check out my novel The Starving Vulture. Available on Amazon, $3.99 for the Ebook and $14.95 for the Paperback https://www.amazon.com/Starving-Vulture-Miguel-Monta%C3%B1a/dp/1951150899<---------The Pacific Capital. A product of an altered world, the legacy of the dead Philippine nation. A congested megacity holding 50 million people all huddled in what was once Metro Manila. It is the center for Pacific Maritime Trade, the world's largest Tax Haven and one of the few places in the world free from the Draconian but necessary environmental laws that saved the world since Cometfall. Ruled by Megacorporations, Corrupt Politicians, Invested Nobility and Criminals. It is one of the world's most important agricultural and pharmaceutical centers. H-6 is an Arbiter of the Court. As Judge Jury and Executioner, they maintain the essential Power Plant Canals and Massive weather controlled Dome Districts. Two elements that even the all powerful Megacorps need maximize their profits. Making Arbiter's Court the true rulers of the city. But even an all powerful Arbiter of the Court like H-6 knows, that Ambition and Greed will always find ways to ignore the rule of Law. Solus Valentine is a Security Consultant, plying her trade to anyone in need. She is a gun for hire who has the street smarts for the city's underworld. Whether in the gilded halls or the most flooded streets, she's ready for your contract. But while completing a contract, she stumbles into a vast conspiracy that just might threaten the city's fragile power balance, if not the world. She just might need an Arbiter's help for this one. One who might be someone from her past.

It was no secret that Lucas, the Alpha of the Redline Pack, had spent ten years pursuing me. He did so patiently and devotedly, never wavering, as if loving me were the only purpose he had in this life. But on the eve of our wedding, one conversation between Lucas and his friend struck me. "You have secretly dated Shane for a while now, but you will Mark Charlotte as your Mate instead?" His friend had asked. "How can the two be the same? How could Shane, a substitute, compare to Charlotte? I might consider keeping her if she behaves herself and doesn't make a scene. Don't worry, Charlotte won't mind," I heard Luca say confidently. But Shane has no intention of behaving. On the day for eh Marking, she stormed the Ritual grounds and pushed me hard making me fall of the center stage unto the grass. Lucas was by her side quickly to protect her not me. Shane had lost all reason from the heart break and had a shard of glass to her her neck. "Choose me or Charlotte right now!" She screamed and I saw Lucas descend into a panic. Shane must have gotten injured in the chaos because I could hear Lucas shouting to clear the way and let him pass, saying he needed to rush Charlotte to a hospital. But I was hurt as well, yet he did not care. "If anything happens to her, you will all pay the price," he had declared. Those words shattered my heart and was the beginning of the end. I now know what to do—booking a ticket and left him forever.

That night, Liam served me my usual evening tea. I trusted him completely—he was my mate, after all, and a respected healer of Thornpack. I shouldn't have. When I woke up the next morning, my head was spinning. The special safe where I kept the morphing inhibitor—the one I'd spent my entire savings to import from Europe for our daughter Isla—was empty. Racing to the healing center, I found Liam celebrating. He was handing out moon-blessed wine, beaming with pride as Natalie's daughter Anna showed off her perfect transformation. My inhibitor had been used on his first love's pup instead of our own daughter. The shock triggered something in my brain. When I collapsed, they diagnosed me with the rare tumor that plagued our kind. Without inhibitors, I couldn't stop Isla's transformation that came early, her six year old body couldn't handle the massive wolf form and the force ripped through her young body. And I, for one, don't even have enough money to keep her in a treatment center. She died in my arms three days later, her little claws drawing blood as the pain overwhelmed her. Until her last breath, she kept asking why Papa hadn't come. Now, in my cold, empty home, with the white porcelain urn containing her ashes on the table, I touch her and decide to sever our partnership.