Star-crossed Conditional Lovers Free Preview

Ryleigh Brigg was getting married at the city courthouse.

She signed her name on the paper. Then, when she filled in the spouse’s column details, she looked up at the man beside her.

The man was exceedingly handsome. Even the courthouse staff could not stop stealing a peek at him. They must have thought the woman who married him must be the happiest woman on Earth.

"What's your name again? Paxton something? Sorry, I forgot," asked Ryleigh, killing the mood in the room.

Paxton Lev's handsome face distorted. Was this woman so oblivious, or was she such a good actress?

Everyone in Karovia knew who Paxton Lev was, especially the women. He had a dangerously handsome face and a perfectly proportioned body. Not only was Paxton the most eligible bachelor and the prince charming to all the women in Karavia, he was also the CEO of R&S Group which had business in finance, e-commerce, real estates, and the entertainment industry.

Paxton snatched the paper from Ryleigh's hand and signed his name with large and bold penmanship.

Then, the paper was stamped, and the marriage certificate was ready.

Ryleigh kept her things in brisk movements.

Paxton was about to ask Ryleigh something but was interrupted by her.

"When are we divorcing?" she asked.

"The doctor said Grandma might not make it through this month," said Paxton flatly.

Her words made him depressed. He should be the one worrying about when to get divorced. Why was she so eager?

Ryleigh frowned. Three months ago, she saved an elderly woman by chance. The woman was suffering from a collapsed lung. Her situation was critical, and Ryleigh saved her by making an incision in the 2nd intercostal space in the midclavicular line.

Later, an ambulance arrived in time to save the woman's life.

It turned out that the woman was a patient with late-stage lung cancer. She insisted on marrying her own grandson to Ryleigh while she was still alive to thank Ryleigh for saving her life.

"Why can't we just fake some proof that we are married?" Ryleigh was confused because she thought that would be a more convenient plan.

Paxton gave her a look. "Grandma would hire someone to investigate us. We can't hide from her."

"I have a request," said Ryleigh.

"Huh?" Paxton raised his brows. He wondered what she had planned.

"I do hope your Grandma will live a long and happy life. However, when it ends, I hope you will use all your influence to eliminate all the evidence that we are married," said Ryleigh seriously.

“…”

As the heir of a corporation and the most eligible bachelor, he had even more reasons to eliminate this history.

Seeing this woman deliberately wanting nothing to do with him was insulting.

"No problem," Paxton finally said.

"Great," Ryleigh shrugged, "goodbye then. Don't forget about the 80 thousand dollars. Here's my bank account number."

She passed a piece of paper with her name and bank account number written to Paxton.

Paxton smirked. She finally talked about the money.

Paxton was raised by his grandmother since he was little, and their relationship was really close. He only hoped that Grandma had no regrets in her old age, especially when she had cancer.

However, Paxton had to lie to Grandma. To comfort Grandma, Paxton had requested Ryleigh to fake a marriage with him, and she asked for a payment of 80 thousand dollars for her favor.

"So, did you deliberately save Grandma for this?" asked Paxton in a cold voice as he was watching the back of Ryleigh leaving.

Ryleigh turned and smiled. "If you think so."

Her smile was breathtaking.

She left after saying that and did not turn back again.

What a joke! Ryleigh did not know Paxton or his grandmother.

This man must be so out of touch and overestimated his importance.

She would have asked him for 8 million dollars if she had an ulterior motive.

80 thousand dollars might not even be enough to buy the bespoke suit on his body.

Paxton only regained his composure after a while.

Damn it! How could I be captivated by the woman's smile!

Paxton stroked the marriage certificate in his hands.

In the picture, she stood far away from him, like a couple of strangers.

One must admit that Ryleigh looked tall and slender in the picture. Her eyes were black like onyx, and her brows were slightly arched and sleek. Her lips exuded both sensuality and innocence, making her hard to read.

A smile crept up Paxton’s face. She's only a gold digger who grew up in an orphanage. One day, she will reveal her true self.

At night, a sense of danger filled the chilly air.

Paxton knew he was trapped. He was too careless. Probably he had forgotten danger after staying in serenity for too long.

All three people who were hunting him had guns.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Gunshots roared.

After fighting hard for his life, Paxton started to lose his strength. After all, he was fighting against three assassins, and his leg was injured from a gunshot.

Paxton finally jumped into the Hune River to get away from his assassins. That was his final hope to survive.

Ryleigh was walking along the river. The director of the orphanage, Rosie Lamford, had requested her to go back to the orphanage tonight.

The sudden sounds of the gunshot had alerted Ryleigh.

Based on her experience, she immediately knew those were gunshots from AK-47, a weapon only used by international terrorists.

Gunshots in the peaceful country were highly unusual.

Ryleigh followed the sound. She saw a few people fighting. One of them seemed to be injured and jumped into the Hune River.

The other three people did not stop the hunt. When they were about to shoot in the river, they heard "Pew! Pew! Pew!". Ryleigh had thrown out a few boomerangs that flew right by the necks of the three assassins.

Pew! Pew! Pew!

The boomerangs drew a few silver curves in the air before returning to Ryleigh's hands.

It was Ryleigh's habit to carry her self-made boomerangs with her.

"Ouch!" The assassins cried in pain. Then, they ran away with their hands pressing on their bleeding necks.

What an incredible skill! Even though Ryleigh did not cut the arteries, the wounds could still be deadly if they were not treated soon.

Ryleigh Brigg was an outstanding fourth-year student in the Department of Design for Manufacturing at Cornell University in Karovia. She was the embodiment of intelligence and beauty.

However, no one knew her even more glorious past. Ryleigh was the champion of the 10-meter air rifle at the National Junior Championship. She was the hot favorite to win the World Shooting Championship as she was leading in the preliminaries. However, for some reason, she withdrew from the championship and disappeared.

Ryleigh was a master shooter who could shoot with an accuracy of 0.01mm. She scored 9 or 10 points so often that throwing boomerangs was just a piece of cake for her.

When the assassins finally retreated, Ryleigh quickly ran to the riverside, thinking the injured man who jumped into the water might have already lost his life.

Without thinking much, Ryleigh jumped over the barrier and into the water.

As Ryleigh expected, the man was drowning. She pulled the man up to the river bank, exhausted all her energy.

It was very dark. Thick clouds had shielded the moon, and there were no street lights. As a result, Ryleigh could not see the man's face well.

The injured man was unconscious from drowning, lying still on the floor.

Ryleigh had attended volunteer first aid training courses, so she had learned different first aid techniques.

She pressed on the man's chest repeatedly, but he did not spit out the water he swallowed.

Did she need to do mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on him?

There was no time for hesitation.

Ryleigh frowned her brows and closed her eyes. She placed her lips over the man's lips and blew into them.

Strangely, the lips of the man just saved from drowning were not icy cold. Instead, they were scalding hot.

The heat from his lips made her shiver.

After Ryleigh gave the man a few rounds of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, he finally spat out the water and coughed violently.

"Hot, so hot…" Paxton was in and out of consciousness.

He felt a pair of soft lips land on his lips and made the blood in his body boil. He knew there was something wrong with him. His usually strong self-control slowly slipped away, and the sweet kiss was the last straw.

When the soft lips landed on his lips again, Paxton suddenly held down the woman and kissed her violently.

"No! Mmm…" It was too late when Ryleigh was aware of the danger.

Paxton tightened his grip. His body emitted unusually high body heat, almost melting Ryleigh together.

Ryleigh realized the man might be drugged.

However, she was unable to make an escape.

Damn! Ryleigh realized what was coming.

"I will bear all the responsibility."

His deep voice resonated in the night wind…

More fierce kisses followed, rendering Ryleigh speechless.

Ryleigh was incredibly regretful. She should not have meddled.

She saved the man but had placed herself in such a dangerous situation.

All her resistance was futile.

It was finally over after what seemed to be ages.

With his last remaining consciousness, Paxton kissed away Ryleigh's tear on the corner of her eye. "I'm sorry, I promise that I will marry you…" he said softly.

Paxton buried his head deep in Ryleigh's neck, wanting to remember her scent.

"Get off me!" Ryleigh finally pushed him away.

Because of his injury, Paxton was entirely out of strength. He rolled over and fell asleep.

Ryleigh stood up, trembling. She tried to button up her shirt with her stiff fingers, but the buttons kept slipping away from her shivering hands. It took her a few tries to finally get dressed.

Ryleigh's mind went blank. She had lost her virginity to a complete stranger.

She bit her lower lips. Her eyes were flaming with anger.

With a flick of silvery light, Ryleigh raised the boomerang in her hand. Then, in the dark, she stood over the man's body and aimed at his throat.

Bastard! How could he do this to me after I saved him!

Ryleigh slowly lowered the hand with a boomerang. IIn the end, she still could not do it.

It was apparent that the man was drugged. He could not control himself anymore.

He took away her virginity, but she could not take away his life.

Screw it! Just treat it like a one-night stand!

Ryleigh stood up angrily before the man woke up. What happened not long ago almost made her legs give out.

With her trembling legs, Ryleigh left the scene in stumbling footsteps.

She could not return to the orphanage after the "accident.”

Ryleigh was in a terrible mood. So, she changed her direction and went back to the university.

What Ryleigh did not know was everything was seen by Alice Miller.

Alice was a fourth-year marketing student at Cornell University. She grew up together with Ryleigh at the orphanage.

That night, Alice and Ryleigh received a call from the director, Rosie Lamford, asking them to return to the orphanage.

Ryleigh left before Alice. Then, Alice saw everything that happened, including Ryleigh saving the man and what came after that.

After Ryleigh left, Alice waited a while before getting closer to the man.

It was too dark to recognize the man lying on the ground.

So, Alice took out her phone and turned on the flashlight.

The white light shone on the man's face. His features were as prominent as a sculpture, with perfectly arched brows and thin lips. His eyes were tightly shut.

Oh, my! He's so handsome, like Adonis!

I think I've seen this face before, but where?

Alice looked more closely. Then, she realized the man on the ground was Paxton Lev.

Alice had seen him on the cover of a finance magazine.

Who in Karovia did not know Paxton Lev? His name and his face always appeared on the news and media. He was also the most eligible man who was rich and handsome.

Suddenly, an idea came to Alice.

At first, she wanted to use this incident to blackmail Ryleigh, but luck was on her side.

Alice saw Ryleigh left in anger, which meant she did not know Paxton before this.

Also, it was dark and chaotic when the incident happened. Therefore, Ryleigh must not have seen the man clearly.

Right now, no one was there except Alice…

Alice's mind quickly assessed the situation.

If she pretended that she saved the man's life and had slept with him, she could probably turn into a swan from an ugly duckling. After all, she was not a virgin anymore.

How could she let go of such a good opportunity?

Even though Alice grew up with Ryleigh at the orphanage, she hated Ryleigh to her gut. That was because Ryleigh always got everyone's attention, including the director's, while Alice was ignored.

Ryleigh left the orphanage for shooting training in the last few years, so no one was competing with Alice.

However, Alice did not expect Ryleigh to suddenly give up shooting and joined Cornell University in the middle of the semester. Because of her outstanding academic results and good looks, Ryleigh was quite well known on campus.

It was really annoying that Ryleigh could get into Cornell by skipping a year at the end of year two.

Alice could not escape Ryleigh and had always lived under her shadow.

She could not take it anymore.

Ryleigh must not have imagined that Alice would replace her at this great opportunity to change her luck.

Immediately, Alice ran into the river and made herself soaked through before wrapping the wound on Paxton's leg.

Then, she crumpled up her clothes and tore up some of the parts. She also bit her lips until they bled.

She pinched her leg so hard till her eyes filled with tears.

Finally, when she finished staging the scene, Alice called an ambulance. Then, she stayed by Paxton's side until he woke up.

She estimated the piercing sirens from the ambulance would wake Paxton up, and the flashing light from the ambulance would allow him to see her face clearly.

Then, everything would fall into place.

After waiting a long time, the ambulance's sirens pierced through the silent night, and the flashing lights brightened the dark night.

Paxton woke up by the commotion. His head was still foggy.

His body was no longer hot. Instead, he felt great. So, he opened his eyes.

Someone was sobbing by his side.

"You are awake! I called an ambulance. It is here now."

"You…"

Flashbacks from those wonderful moments made Paxton realize what he had done.

That wonderful feeling was so sweet that he did not want it to stop. On the contrary, he wanted to savor it.

Paxton squeezed his eyes, wanting to look at the person beside him under the flashing light from the ambulance.

She looked gentle and lovely with a pair of animated eyes. Her eyes were teary, and her body was all soaked through. Water was dripping from her long black hair. The first glimmer of dawn fell on her shoulders, making her look like an innocent white flower.

However, her clothes were messy, and her eyes were swollen. In addition, her lips had traces of blood.

"Did you save me?" Paxton sat up with great difficulty.

Alice nodded. "You fell into the river, so I pulled you up. Your leg is injured, but I had already wrapped it up."

"What I did to you just now…"

Alice was stunned. Glistering tears fell from her eyes. She twisted the corner of her shirt helplessly.

Seeing her reaction, Paxton did not doubt her.

However, he was disappointed.

She was so different from his imagination. Paxton remembered the woman who laid under him was feisty and unrest like a wild kitten. It took him all his strength to tame her.

The woman in front of him looked gentle and helpless.

Paxton could not imagine she was the same woman.

"What's your name? How old are you?"

"Alice Miller, twenty-two. I'm a fourth-year marketing student at Cornell University."

Paxton contemplated. He was drugged and attacked. Without Alice, he might have died.

She saved his life, but he violated her.

However, he did not want to blame anyone.

Paxton always placed responsibility above everything else.

He remembered when he was violating her, he promised to marry her.

However, looking at the helpless woman in front of him, he was not eager to keep his promise.

After hesitating for a while, Paxton frowned. "I will bear all the responsibility, but I need some time."

He gave a name card to Alice. "My name is Paxton Lev. I will remember you. I will give you a call when I finish taking care of some matters in my hands."

After all, he had just got married to Ryleigh that morning. So he would need some time to take care of that.

"Don't worry about me…" Alice lowered her head and pretended to sob, "I know… you didn't mean it…"

She looked at the name card in her hand: Paxton Lev, CEO of R&S Group.

No one could see a smirk slip out on her lips.

The next day, Ryleigh arrived at the orphanage in the afternoon.

She missed the previous appointment because of the incident, so she made another appointment with the director to meet this afternoon.

Madam Lamford was always nice to her when she was staying at the orphanage.

The orphanage kept their personal information and would inform them whenever there was someone who came to look for a lost family member.

When Ryleigh was little, she still hoped to find her birth parents, but she was set up for disappointment every time.

After a few times, Ryleigh started to give up her hope.

After all, she survived even without any parents.

Ryleigh met Alice, who had just arrived, at the corner when she was going up the stairs.

"Ryleigh! You are here!" Alice gave a warm, welcoming smile.

Ryleigh returned a smile with a nod. She grew up with Alice, and now they were studying at the same university.

They did not see each other much, but their relationship was still close.

Both of them went into the director's office together.

"Hello, Madam Lamford!" they said.

Rosie Lamford raised her head from stacks of documents. "You are finally here!" said the director happily, "I know you are busy, but this matter could not wait any longer."

"Madam Lamford, they usually just come here to look for information. What do they want this time?" asked Ryleigh.

Ryleigh and Alice were admitted to the orphanage the same month that year, and they had similar ages and heights. So, whenever there was someone to look for their long-lost family member, both of them were called in for recognition.

"Well, they want to test your DNA this time. So, please leave a strand of hair and a piece of nail."

"Oh."

Ryleigh did not think much about it.

On the other hand, Alice's eyes flickered with doubt.

Ryleigh and Alice placed their hair and nail in the bags the director gave, respectively.

"Let me tell you, the person who came to search for their family has a very significant background…"

Ryleigh had rushed here from the hospital. Now, she had to go back to pack up her things and move to Paxton's house that evening.

So, she was not interested in listening to the director's words. "Madam Lamford, I need to attend to some urgent matters. So, I need to go now," said Ryleigh.

"Off you go," Rosie smiled and gave Ryleigh a gentle push, "I know you are busy. I will let you know if anything comes up."

After Ryleigh left, Alice rubbed Rosie's shoulders affectionately. "Madam Lamford, who's searching for their family? Why is it more complicated this time?" She tried to find out more about it.

"Look, I brought your favorite snack!" Alice gave the bag in her hand a shake.

Alice had always been good at pleasing people. So, naturally, Rosie had always liked her too.

"Aww, that's very nice of you! Do you know about the Xander family in the capital?"

Alice was stunned. "The Xander family? Do you mean the famous military family of Army General Mark Xander and Lieutenant General Samuel Xander?"

"Aren't you a smart cookie? You really know a lot. The Xander family had been searching for their lost granddaughter for many years. Finally, new information has led them to Karovia. Their granddaughter is about the same age as you and Ryleigh."

"They searched her blindly? Did they have any object for authentication?" asked Alice curiously.

"I heard there was a silver pendant, but it was not stated in both of your files, and I have no memory of seeing it. Therefore, the best way to authenticate is a DNA test."

Silver pendant? Alice's heartbeat suddenly accelerated. She knew Ryleigh had a silver pendant and was very jealous about it. So, one day, Alice stole it when Ryleigh was in the shower, and Ryleigh did not find it after that.

Alice might still be able to find the silver pendant if she had not thrown it away.

Could Ryleigh really be the granddaughter of the prestigious military family?

Is that why Ryleigh is so good at shooting, because of her genes?

Alice's heart was burning with envy. Why is luck always at Ryleigh's side? First, she met Paxton, and now she might be the granddaughter of the Xander family.

No, I'm going to have all of that for myself!

Thinking about that, Alice helped Rosie to stand up from the table enthusiastically. "Dear Madam Lamford, go and get changed. I want to treat you to dinner. I miss you so much!"

"Aww, you always know what to say!" Rosie was already gently pushed into the restroom by Alice to change her work outfit.

Once Rosie was gone, an evil smirk appeared at the corners of Alice's mouth.

She wanted everything: the money, the status, and Paxton Lev.

While Rosie was still in the restroom, Alice switched her hair and nails with Ryleigh's without showing a glimpse of anxiousness.