His Achilles' Heel

1
It was the year Jared Lavelle and Nina Volkov’s love curdled into the purest hate.
Nina had taken three of his fingers with a butcher’s cleaver and vanished.
Three months after she left, Jared Lavelle announced his wedding.
And just like that, I went from a caregiver fresh out of college to the lady of the Lavelle estate. For five years, Jared cherished my clean slate, my innocence. He allowed me to become his vulnerability, his soft spot.
Until Nina Volkov came back from Europe and shattered his ribs.
I rushed to the hospital the moment I got the call. But I stopped dead outside his private room, my hand hovering over the door. Through the glass, I saw Nina drive a blade deep into Jared’s chest.
He didn't even flinch. Instead, he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her into a brutal kiss.
When they broke apart, Jared wiped a smear of blood from his lips, his voice a raw rasp of desire. “Nina,” he breathed. “God, I’ve missed you these five years.”
…
Nina’s face was a mask of ice. She shoved him away and slapped him hard across the cheek.
That’s when I burst in. “Stop it!”
Jared’s expression flickered with something uncomfortable as he let his hand drop from Nina’s waist. She glanced down at his retreating hand, a cold, sharp laugh escaping her lips. Her gaze, utterly devoid of warmth, swept over my simple white dress, dripping with scorn.
“Elara. Perfect timing.” She gestured to a chair. “Let’s talk.”
A shadow crossed Jared’s face. “Elara, go home,” he ordered, his voice strained.
But my feet felt like they’d grown roots.
Nina lit a cigarette, the same brand I knew intimately. An entire drawer in our bedroom was filled with them, a five-year constant. The smoke curled into my lungs, and I broke into a fit of coughing.
She watched the tears well in my eyes, her voice like chipping ice. “Let me be frank, Elara. You’re not his type.” Her eyes raked over my white dress again, a cruel smirk playing on her lips. “The blood on my hands—on our hands,” she corrected, “could stain every white dress in your closet crimson.”
As she spoke, she casually wiped the blood from her fingers—Jared’s blood—onto the pristine fabric of my skirt.
“These five years? They were a gift. A little vacation I allowed you to have.” She leaned closer, her voice a conspiratorial whisper laced with undisguised menace. “But you should know, Elara. Stolen things always have to be returned to their rightful owner.”
I stared down at the garish red stain blooming on my dress, a sickening knot tightening in my stomach. I finally found my voice, a weak attempt at defiance. “You’re the one who left five years ago, Nina. If it wasn’t for me, Jared…”
Her brow furrowed in annoyance. She moved slowly, gracefully, but her strike was vicious. Her hand clamped around my throat, and she dragged me toward the open window, forcing half my body out into the cold night air.
Jared, despite his injuries, shot out of bed, grabbing her wrist. “Nina, that’s enough,” he growled.
She just laughed, a bitter, ugly sound, and shoved me out another few inches. The city lights swam dizzyingly below.
“Are you stopping me for another woman now, Jared?”
The silence that followed was heavy, suffocating. My heart plummeted into a cold, dark abyss.
With a look of grim determination, Nina reached over and yanked the small blade from Jared’s shoulder. A fresh spray of hot blood erupted from the wound, but only my face paled.
“Jared!”
Nina didn’t hesitate. Using the same knife, she carved a deep, ragged hole into her own wrist, then mine. Blood, warm and slick, soaked my sleeve, my dress.
“I’m giving you another chance to choose, Jared.”
In the space of a single sentence, my white dress was drenched in so much red it was impossible to tell its original color.
Jared ground his teeth, each word a low snarl. “Nina, are you insane?”
She said nothing, merely holding her mangled, bleeding wrist up for him to see.
He hesitated for only a fraction of a second. Then, he scooped me into his arms and sprinted towards the emergency room. For the first time, I saw Jared Lavelle, always so composed, stumble in his haste.
A nurse met us, pushing a gurney forward. “Put her down! Where is she injured?”
Jared instinctively held up my left arm—the one that was completely unharmed.
The air froze. The nurse stared, confused.
But I understood everything. The wounded wrist belonged to Nina.
With a look of pure contempt, the nurse shooed Jared out of the E.R. His face vanished behind the swinging doors, his anxious voice echoing in the hall. “Elara, don’t be scared! I’ll be right here waiting for you!”
The nurse scoffed under her breath. “Doesn’t even know where the wound is. Some deep love that is.” She turned and saw the bitter smile on my face, and an awkward silence filled the room.
The cut Nina had made was deep. They didn’t have time for anesthesia. I felt every pull of the surgical needle, the thread stitching my skin back together, searing the moment into my memory forever.
When it was over, they wheeled me out into the hallway.
It was empty.
Jared Lavelle, the man who said he would be waiting, had broken his promise.

2
It wasn't until the early hours of the morning that a weary-looking Jared finally found my room. Seeing my eyes closed, he must have thought I was asleep. He slipped into the bed beside me, a familiar routine, pulling me into his arms and pressing a soft kiss to my hair.
But a foreign perfume clung to the bandages on his chest. It wasn't mine. It wasn't even Nina's.
I opened my eyes just enough to see it: a faint, crimson lipstick stain smeared across the white gauze. A soft snore rumbled from Jared’s chest, but sleep was now a distant country I couldn't reach. I shifted, turning my head away from him.
Five years ago, Nina’s departure, coupled with a series of failed surgeries on his hand, had nearly destroyed him. He was a ghost, a hollowed-out shell of the man he once was. He’d shut everyone out, refusing to eat, drink, or sleep.
Then I showed up with a simple bowl of homemade noodle soup. The moment he smelled it, something in his dead eyes flickered back to life.
“I’ve lived on a knife’s edge for too long,” he told me later, describing that plain bowl of noodles. “That soup… it reminded me of what home tastes like.”
For five years, I stayed by his side, patiently pulling him back from that blood-soaked abyss. He rewarded me with a pink diamond ring and proudly declared me Mrs. Lavelle to the world.
He told me he could only truly sleep beside me, without the fear of being woken by the cold barrel of a gun.
He told me that once things settled down, we would have a child. We would live a normal life. A home, a family, a future.
Now, Nina’s return had shattered that future with a single, brutal punch.
At dawn, Jared’s best friend, Leo Sterling, tapped lightly on the door. Jared gently eased me back onto the pillow and slipped out of the room.
Leo’s voice was a low murmur. “Nina’s stable. She’s going to be fine.”
I heard Jared let out a long, slow breath of relief.
They stood in silence for a moment before Leo broke it. “Damn. It’s been a while since we’ve had an adrenaline rush like that. These last few years of peace have made me soft.”
Jared’s reply was a quiet hum. “Too peaceful.”
His words were a blade twisting in my chest. I didn’t know if he meant life had grown too dull, or if I had.
Leo’s tone turned serious. “Now that Nina’s back, what’s your plan?”
Jared paused, not answering directly. “If Elara hadn’t been with me five years ago… I would have been gone. I can’t just throw that away.”
A bitter taste filled my mouth. So, he hadn’t forgotten.
But then, he spoke again. “It’s just… sometimes, after five years of plain broth, you start craving something with a little fire.”
In that instant, the foundation of love Jared had built in my heart over five years crumbled into dust. He was the one who said he was tired of living on a knife’s edge. And now, he found that life bland.
Jared clapped Leo on the shoulder. “I’m going to check on Nina. Let me know when Elara wakes up.”
After Jared’s footsteps faded down the hall, Leo’s voice came from just outside the door. “I know you’re awake, Elara.”
Before I could answer, he pushed the door open and took a seat in the visitor’s chair, getting straight to the point.
“I’m advising you to leave Jared,” he said, his gaze steady. “It’ll be better than the humiliation you’ll face later.” He paused. “I can have divorce papers drawn up. You want money? Name your price.”
He leaned forward, his voice low and earnest. “The bond between Jared and Nina was forged in blood and fire, Elara. That’s not something five years of domesticity can erase.”
I lowered my gaze, hiding the desperate helplessness in my eyes. It was true. For all these years, I’d been living in a separate world, isolated from Jared’s true life, his true self. An island of my own making.
The beautiful future he painted for me was nothing more than a fantasy he’d spun to deceive himself. We had both forgotten the truth.
His soul was colored in shades of black, stained with crimson.
Leo’s voice was filled with a strange sort of pity. “How about we make a little wager?”
After a long moment, I finally made my decision.
“Fine.”

3
Jared didn't show up again until noon the next day. I didn't ask where he'd been. He, in a rare show of tact, didn't explain.
He gently helped me change out of the blood-stained dress, his touch as careful as ever. He pressed a soft kiss to my forehead.
“Elara, I’m taking you home.”
The drive was wrapped in a long-forgotten silence. Jared held my hand, but his gaze was distant, his mind clearly miles away.
When we arrived at the villa, Nina was already there, leaning against the doorframe as if she owned the place. She shot him an impatient look. “Next time, don’t make me wait.”
Then, without another word, she tapped a six-digit code into the keypad and walked inside. The casual, familiar way she did it made me feel like the intruder.
Jared’s expression darkened. He opened his mouth to explain. “Elara…”
But Nina, turning back from the living room, answered the question for him. “The code is my birthday,” she said with a dismissive wave. “It’s never changed.”
She sank onto the sofa like a queen returning to her throne. Our housekeeper, Martha, rushed over, her face alight with joy, and grabbed Nina’s hands.
“Miss Nina! You’re finally back!” she exclaimed. “I’ll… I’ll go make you your favorite noodle soup right away!”
I stumbled, the world tilting beneath my feet. A chilling realization washed over me. The person who made this place feel like home for Jared… it was always Nina. I had merely stumbled into the gap they’d left in their endless war, using another woman’s comforts to pry open his fortified heart.
Nina was right. These five years were stolen. They were never truly mine.
Jared’s hand tightened around my cold fingers. He turned to the housekeeper, his voice sharp. “Martha! Get out!”
Then he strode over to the sofa and hauled Nina to her feet. “Alright, what do you want? Why are you really back?”
Nina didn’t even flinch. She simply reached out and pressed her thumb hard against his broken ribs. “I want the two warehouses on the Southside.”
Jared’s face contorted in pain, but he didn’t make a sound.
I knew those warehouses. In our first year of marriage, I lived in constant fear of getting a call saying he was dead. The first step in legitimizing the Lavelle enterprise was to sell off those properties. Leo had gotten into a massive fight with him over it. They were the place where he and Nina had built their empire from nothing.
“Have you forgotten the bandages soaked in blood that littered the floors there?” he had asked.
Jared had been silent then. He had discarded that part of his past for me.
Now, Nina had effortlessly ripped open those old wounds, making him remember the days of gunfire and chaos.
Jared’s voice was hoarse. “They’re gone. Sold them off years ago.”
A flash of disbelief crossed Nina’s face. She was about to speak when the front doors of the villa imploded.
A shower of shattered glass sprayed across the room, and tiny shards sliced into my skin. My new white dress was once again stained with red. Jared’s face was grim as he shoved me behind him.
But Nina stepped forward, positioning herself right at his side.
My fingers curled into fists. The two of them, standing shoulder to shoulder, a perfect, deadly pair, were a testament to my own powerlessness.
In the next second, dozens of armed thugs swarmed into the house. A familiar, menacing voice drifted in from the doorway.
“Nina, my dear. Long time no see.”
Jared’s grip on my hand tightened. The sight of Silas Quinn’s face made my heart sink to the floor. He leisurely straightened his suit jacket and sat down on our sofa.
“Nina, our deal was simple. The Southside warehouses for two blocks of my territory. Today’s the deadline, and I have yet to see any keys.”
Nina faced him calmly. “They’re gone,” she said, her eyes flicking to me. “Jared got rid of them. For a woman.”
Silas raised an eyebrow, his expression dripping with amusement. “Oh?” he purred. “Well, that’s a shame. In that case, Nina, your life belongs to me.”
Jared exploded, lunging forward and grabbing Silas by the collar. “Silas! You dare!”
Instantly, the room bristled with the sound of safeties clicking off. Dozens of guns were aimed at Jared and Nina’s heads.
Silas looked utterly unfazed. “Jared, you’ve been playing the legitimate businessman for so long, you seem to have forgotten. The rules of the street don’t allow for broken deals. There’s no backing out. Only payment, or death.”
After a long, tense moment, Jared’s hands fell away from Silas’s suit. He looked defeated.
“Let Nina go,” he said, his voice ragged. “I’ll find a way to get you the warehouses.”
Silas clapped his hands in mock applause. “That’s what I was waiting to hear.” He gestured to his men. “Take Mrs. Lavelle.”
In that moment, a cold sweat broke out across my back. The thugs moved, but Jared’s first instinct was to rush toward Nina. He only seemed to remember me when he saw them grabbing my arms.
“Silas, Elara isn’t part of this life!” he yelled, his voice raw with panic. “Let her go!”
Silas’s friendly demeanor vanished. “I’m already showing you respect by calling you Mr. Lavelle,” he snarled. “You have a choice. I take one of Nina’s hands, right here, right now. Or I take your wife with me. You decide.”
Jared went silent.
From her place by his side, Nina watched me, a triumphant smirk playing on her lips.
My heart felt like a tattered flag in a storm. I didn't want to hear his answer.
I turned and walked out on my own.
Nina was right. We were never from the same world.
Silas rose from the sofa, his eyes cold and predatory. “Three days from now, at the Southside warehouses. I’ll be waiting.”

First, search for and download the MotoNovel app from Google. Then, open the app and use the code "255620" to read the entire book.