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

I smooth my hands down my ivory wedding dress. It’s classy elegance and understated top is lined with a simple sleeveless fitted bodice and tiny pearl detailing. It has a full wispy floating skirt, and layers and layers of chiffon puffing out to a full-length cloud of loveliness. It’s a fairy-tale princess dress and matches beautifully with the elegant engagement ring twinkling on my hand, sparkling in all its shining glory.

I admire my flawless natural make-up in the mirror, touching up my nude lipstick. My tawny hair is wild and curled in its loose romantic style, tiny tendrils hang around my face and I appraise my reflection with pride.

I look beautiful! I feel beautiful and serene. There is no fear whatsoever.

I look like a woman hopelessly in love, about to marry the man of her dreams.

I am that woman.

I slide on my satin ivory stilettos that almost mirror the shoes I used to adore so much. It feels weird to be back in heels after so long and I turn around, hearing movement from the room behind me, alerting me to tropical blue

eyes catching mine in the reflection as I straighten up.

“Oh, my God, Ems … God, you look stunning,” Sarah holds back a tear, touching her eyes with a tissue and waving her hands to save her mascara from running, as I watch

her in the mirror behind me. She’s wearing her fitted

pinned up in a loose half up style like mine and I’m overcome with a huge surge of love. Her bright blue eyes are heavy with emotion as she’s watches me intensely in a way that has my

are tingling, my stomach is fluttering, and my knees are turning to mush. I spin around lifting my delicate veil and let my eyes skim that flawless

chin defiantly, looking like old PA Emma, yet so different in so many ways. This is my happy day; no tears unless they are ones of joy.

into the room behind Sarah. They only left me for a few minutes, so I could step into my dress, yet they’re acting like this is the first time they’ve seen it too,

to find the perfect one and constant boring fittings with selfies that Leila just had to litter over Instagram. I banned Jake from using any social media the entire time we were planning the big day, for fear of trending posts giving away ideas of which shops I was heading into and people snapping sneaky photos of me trying on gowns in shops. Leila saw them, on more than one occasion and promptly chased them off, but

head and smiles back through a wave of tears. Her

face up in a desperate attempt to salvage her perfected make-up. Leila is so hopelessly cute when she cries, and I agree with her on the Daniel

choice but to love that train wreck … Invest in waterproof mascara.” Sarah chides, and I watch as Leila runs a hand over her bulging bump. I am hit with another hint of rising tears and a small tug of envy. Her growing bump is twins, much to Daniel’s shock when they found out she was even carrying. That day I really thought we needed an ambulance for

for the feeling of emptiness to go away, and maybe not until I try for another child, but even the thought of having another baby brings fresh tears to my eyes. The hormones are still messing with me even now. There is gut-wrenching heartache at the emptiness of my body, so I try to push it aside mentally with a deep inhale,

marry him now then,

sighs back her tears again and tries to limit the damage to her face with a compact, squinting at it disapprovingly then dabbing manically over the streaky areas in a bid to fix it. I

one that says you do remember the crazy mess I’ve

fracture and small brain bruise was a large ordeal and included a very long and messy recovery. I had a lot of counseling to deal with my past as well as the emotional aftereffects of what Vanquis did to me. Recovery involved rehabilitation to get past some of the brain damage I incurred from the incident, such as impaired balance, bouts of severe low mood, and awful headaches for months on end. My crying and psychotic behavior consumed me these last few months and really tested everyone’s love

new path and studying to become a counselor for abused children within Sylvana’s charity. I want to be a beacon of hope and a hand to guide children to a better life. I want to do for the Sophies” of the world what Jake did for me. It was hard to study and go to classes, still seeing my therapist weekly to keep on top of everything while

hurry up because my wedding is in a month and you’ll be the only single one of our trio.” Sarah has given up on salvaging Leila’s make-up, and instead hands her

Marcus really is right for her. Sarah was bowled over, not only by my public appreciation of ‘the girl who loved me when no one else did and persevered anyway’ but the sheer spontaneity of Marcus’s proposal. She didn’t see it coming at all,