Bernard Fortalejo

Bernard de Silva-Fortalejo is the son of Don Leon Fortalejo and Alicia de Silva. He is the husband to Jewel Fortalejo and with whom he fathered three children, Leornard, Julianne, Jessica, and adopted one, Aidan.

He was brought up by the de Silva's believing that he was the son of Romano Fortalejo to Alicia de Silva. In The Devil's Kiss, it was revealed that his mother, Alicia, was raped by her uncle Alfon leading everyone to believe that Romano was innocent from impregnating and abandoning Alicia. However, it was later discovered in Jewel, the Black Diamond, that Bernard was indeed the son of Leon himself in a one night encounter with Alicia.

Bernard joined the US army when he was younger for a few years, this was before the events in The Devil's Kiss. In the army, he met his life long friend Jackson La Pierre, Kurt La Pierre's father who was the future husband of Jade Ann Fortalejo.

Bernard's story is one of the most developed in the series, encompassing several books to detail his life and characterization in small parts at the beginning and in several stand-alone stories. He, along with Jewel, are the only two character in the series to have multiple stand-alone novels (Dahil Ikaw, Jewel, the Black Diamond, Villa Kristine, Amore, and Endlessly 1, 2, & 3).

There were a number of women whom he had relationships with during the entire series. He was known to have courted Alexa Montejo before the latter married Jake Atienza, he then became involved with Alexa's long lost twin sister, Sandra. He also had a serious relationship with Diana dela Cuesta Montero during the time that they all believed Jewel dead. However, even with all the other women, it was implicitly stated that Bernard had given all his heart to Jewel that upon the latter's apparent death, he was a changed man.

## Relationships

### Jewel Fortalejo

His relationship with Jewel was fraught with twist and turns. They first met when Bernard was 24 and Jewel was 19 years old. Their attraction was evident at their first meeting even with the knowledge that they are half-siblings. Even after believing that they were not siblings (when they were led to believe that Alfon was Bernard's father), their relationship was opposed by Leon from behind the scenes separating the two for 3 years.

After being revealed as a true son of Don Leon and declared as heir (Zandro although older was not recognized as heir), Bernard inherited the biggest part of the Kristine Group of Companies when Zandro legally released ownership of the entailed properties of the Fortalejo family to his younger brother. It was during his time of leadership that the Fortalejo fortune amass further wealth making the company a global one with branches in United States and in other parts of Asia.

### Dianna dela Cuesta Montero

Bernard married twice. He first married Dianna after falling in love with the latter after Jewel's death in the ending of Amore (Beloved Stranger) and also the closing of the first part of the series. His initial attraction for Dianna was merely of lust and protectiveness, he resented the fact that Dianna makes him forget Jewel. He felt possessiveness with Dianna something he never felt for Jewel. Despite his misgivings for his emotions towards Dianna, eventually even after admitting that Jewel will always have a part of his heart he said that even the memory of Jewel pales in his new found passion for Dianna.

(Details from Endlessly)

Bernard and Jewel initially lived in the penthouse in the Kristine Cement company building but soon moved to a mansion outside of the city as described in Panther Walks.

Bernard is described to have the same temperament as Leon Fortalejo. He also inherited the business acumen of the old patriarch. Emerald noted upon first meeting Bernard that the young man did not resemble the Fortalejos at all in appearance. But it can be noted that Emerald is a faulty narrator because at the same time she said that Jewel has the look of a Fortalejo despite her being not a real Fortalejo as she was an adopted child from her mother's side of the family. Bernard often shows his likeness to Don Leon whenever he machinates behind the scenes regarding the lives of people around him. However, compared to Don Leon Bernard inspires more love than just mere respect.

Not much is known between his wedding to Jewel and the subsequent stories of their grown children. He was frequently mentioned however in a lot of the other novels in varying degrees. A brief glimpse of the past was mentioned in Panther Walks when Bernard adopted Aidan Fortalejo Worth when the latter was about 10 years old.

Bernard was shaken when Jewel had a heart attack at a young age making him more protective of his wife.

The discrepancy in the details of Bernard's parentage during the The Devil's Kiss were slowly corrected throughout the series. It is assumed that Bernard was never meant to be a Fortalejo during the initial stages of the series but was fleshed out in hindsight when it was apparent that the Fortalejo clan can't simply die out in the story line as the main family with all the heir of the clan soon to be bearing different last names. Therefore, the twist of making Bernard a true Fortalejo was concocted as a necessity.