The Carrero Effect - Falling for the Boss (Billionaire CEO)

“Please don’t. I can’t bear to think of Jake that way, knowing we were both hurting and both too stupid to just be honest with each other. If we’d been honest after we did get together then the mess with Marissa would’ve never happened.” I sigh, laying my cup down on the low table in front of us.

“Honesty is very important … as is communication, and still cherishing one another even after the first throws of passion and excitement have died.” Sylvana focuses on me very seriously. “I know from first-hand experience that marriages can stray if you don’t keep a focus on what you mean to one another and if you stop telling each other how you really feel.” She pats me again and I get the impression she’s talking about Giovanni’s affair.

I have no idea what to say, or ask, or even let on that I know what she’s talking about. It’s too forward to say a word so I say nothing at all. Sylvana doesn’t seem to notice my awkward silence, more intent on carrying on. “Giovanni had an affair with a woman I’d thought my friend.” She states rather factually. No flicker of emotion at all which completely surprises me. “We grew apart, no time for one another anymore and sadly we’d forgotten to still love and cherish one another. He found solace in another’s arms.” She sighs at the memory.

“Oh, Sylvana, I don’t know if I could ever forgive Jake for more than a kiss, I can’t imagine.” The tears start brimming in my eyes as I try not to think of the pain she must’ve endured. How much that would destroy me if I had been in her shoes, a kiss was hard enough to forgive.

“In a way, it saved our marriage. We’d grown so distant with one another and this brought emotion and pain to the surface. I realized by the depth of my heartbreak that I still loved him and by seeing me so heartbroken he realized he still loved me. The guilt pained him so much that it brought us back together, eventually, and now we’re stronger than we ever were. The same will be said of you and Jake over this nonsense with that girl.” She seems completely un-phased by this revelation about her marriage, yet I’m so gob smacked that she could’ve ever forgive something so utterly destructive. The thought of her husband having full-on sex with someone else doesn’t even seem to flicker across her face.

“What happened with her? The other woman?” I sigh at the thought of an affair, heart wrenched for this woman I adore so very much.

“I’m sure Jake told you that it was Daniel’s mother? I know Jake tells you everything, miele. It’s okay. Unfortunately, his relationship with his father is very strained because of it and I know Jake believes that Giovanni had more affairs, but I know the truth. Giovanni cut that woman from his life and has never had another dealing with her.” Her expression holds only conviction and I really believe her.

I nod rather than deny the fact, sure in the idea that she won’t really be upset about my having prior knowledge. I nod to show I’m listening because I don’t really have any actual words to say; nod to agree that Jake really does believe his father is some sort of womanizing man-whore and still despises him for it … Ironically. Whatever she took my nod to mean I hope I covered all bases.

with.” She smiles affectionately for a second, crinkling her nose with a sigh. “He had a chip on his shoulder about trust and love, so finding out his father hurt me that way sort of sealed his fate. Jake has never trusted him since and he’s so very stubborn, like his father,

even why he did?” I offer, trying to find a way

to have another woman who resembled me close to him again. Marianne Hunter was almost like a sister in looks. Daniel takes after his father with his fair hair and blue eyes while his mother and I were almost like twins. Giovanni has a very

his own personal staff and just assumed, he had a type. It never occurred to me that respect for his wife had prompted him to never employ any small brunettes with green eyes and Italian beauty like his wife. In his own way, Giovanni was showing his love for her and

Stubborn ass of mine!

attitude must be completely abhorrent to

him again? Surely in time Jake can also forgive him?” I’m now so completely in awe at the inner working of Giovanni and how his head must actually work. The man is a total

in love.” Sylvana smiles dreamily, looking very much like me in that moment. A woman devoted and completely in love with a hard-headed Carrero. “He comes home every night regardless of the time it takes to get here. We made a promise to never drift apart again. I know he’s not an easy man on the surface, but our private moments are so very much filled with affection and love and a lot of sex.” She grins again naughtily and winks my

only hope that one day Jake finds a way to have some sort of relationship with him; where they are now is very heart-breaking.” Sylvana positively glows as she talks of her newfound relationship with her husband, but the obvious pain about her child’s connection with him is very evident

has no clue to the depths of care that still exist between his parents. I guess he probably avoided any sort of communication on the matter, purely because that stubborn mind of his decided his father was a villain no matter what and he would be damned to believe otherwise. If only Jake knew of the love that still runs between them and that his father still cherishes and respects Sylvana, above all others. Giovanni obviously has the same capabilities of love Jake has, that same

and gaze

with Giovanni.” I