Page 1 of How To Resist Mr. Wrong (Mr. Wrong Chronicles #1)

When their eyes met, Emily was transfixed. Her heart sped up. It became harder to breathe. Her eyes, her entire body, were no longer under her control. She was shocked but somehow not surprised. She felt cracked open, too exposed, too out of control.

She hadn’t felt this way about anyone before. But the man in front of her wasn’t just anyone. He was the thorn in her side, the bright red light that guided all her actions, the bane of her existence. He was the love she regretted and the memory she’d give everything to get rid of.

He was Sebastian Raux.

Emily couldn’t believe what her life had come to. Working with her mortal enemy? The guy she planned on never even sharing a city with will now be in her office all the time? Invading her sanctuary, her escape, her life?

What even was the point of being the CEO’s daughter if she couldn’t block the hiring of the devil personified? But her father straight up refused to hear anything against Sebastian’s hiring. She hated and loved her father for being fair, never letting Emily take her massive privilege lightly.

But today? Today, she was angry, angrier than the day she prepared a presentation for her father on why hiring the backstabbing coward was a bad idea. The first ten slides were dedicated to how he was a traitor and an abandoner. Her father had laughed through the entire thing.

Emily’s blood boiled as Sebastian made his way towards the makeshift center stage in the main hall.

The light coming in from the open glass wall on one side made him look almost regal, an angel taking his place in heaven.

She should discuss keeping the sunlight blocked to avoid any future deception.

She watched Sebastian move casually through the halls, covered in pictures of the team from different events.

His intense eyes never strayed from her face for more than a few seconds as he greeted everyone on the way like a celebrity.

His blue pants and jacket brought out his eyes.

The missing tie, his sharp jaws, and carefully curated bed hair did not make his gaze softer.

Emily’s hair falling on her face suddenly felt too annoying, so she pulled it behind her ear. When that wasn’t enough, she put it in a bun over her head. She folded her hands in front of her chest to stop herself from messing with her hair more. What did she normally do with her hands?

Sebastian’s eyes didn’t let up. Then slowly, as if this entire situation was the most amusing thing in the world, he smiled. His entire face changed into the carefree, safe boy Emily once knew.

Her hands fell back to her sides. But she couldn’t help notice the dimple that popped on his right cheek. A new addition that reminded her she didn’t know or trust the person in front of her.

“I don’t think I can even begin to find words for how happy I am to be joining you guys here,” he addressed everyone, holding his gaze a second too long at Emily, his smile never wavering.

“When Emily and I were interns here, working side by side as Senior Marketing Managers was literally our dream,” he continued, completely unbothered by everyone’s eyes shifting to Emily or by Emily’s heart growing heavier by the second, like something was crushing her.

“It’ll be a pleasure to take this company to new heights with my best friend and the prolific leader she has grown into,” he said.

Applause broke around them, and people were looking at Sebastian like he was God’s gift to the world.

How could they not tell how full of shit he and his speech were?

Was her team not smart? Did she need to make some staff changes?

Then, she remembered how Sebastian had successfully conned her for years, too, memories floating through her head like a slideshow.

Yeah, her team was fine. It was Sebastian’s charm that was deceptive.

Because he was wrong. This was not the same place anymore.

Emily had made sure of that. Slowly but steadily, she had changed everything.

It wasn’t easy. She couldn’t just ask her father to shell out for a renovation, so she was sneaky.

She changed small details, the colors of the walls, the signs on the doors, and the art on the walls.

She made this place, not just home for her, but for everyone who worked here.

Now, it was laid bare to the enemy.

But Emily was a professional, so when Sebastian finally got around to standing in front of her after personally greeting his adoring audience, she put on the fakest smile.

Inside, she wanted to scream, but she shook his hand, her skin burning at every place they touched. “It’s nice to have you on the team, Mr. Raux,” she said politely. When she tried to take her hand back, he tightened his grip.

“Is it?” he asked and winked before letting her hand go.

Emily opened her mouth, but no words came out.

Yes, they were not friends anymore, definitely not the ‘best friends’ he had proudly proclaimed.

But they were going to work pretty closely for the foreseeable future, seeing as her father had literally laughed off her complaints.

The least they could do was pretend to be polite.

All she felt was anger, and it was a good thing she’d forgotten words because she couldn’t go off on him here.

It wouldn’t just give him the reaction he was clearly angling for, but also give her gossip-hound team something to be annoying about for at least a couple of years.

She was still paying for the pancake incident at the team brunch last year.

So, Emily just turned around and gestured to Candace to join them. “Mr. Raux, this is Candace. She’ll guide you with everything you need to get started.” She introduced them like the professional she was.

“Oh, I was hoping you’d at least give me a tour before we get to work,” Sebastian had the audacity to say.

“Well, sorry to disappoint. I have work to get to,” she snapped, still keeping the smile on. “I’ll see you around,” she said and left before Seb could come up with more outrageous demands.

Sebastian, not Seb! She meant Sebastian.

Emily kept herself busy throughout the day and didn’t let herself think at all.

Not about how her entire life was a warzone right now.

Not about how her heart was breaking all over again because of a man who didn’t seem to care that he broke it the first time around.

Not about how underprepared she was for all of it.

No, her entire mind was singlemindedly focused on the budget in front of her.

Wait, where was the budget? Right, she had moved on to checking the social media calendar already!

She was focused.

But she was interrupted by her assistant, who came in bearing lunch. Normally, Emily appreciated the break. She was a huge fan of good mental health. But today, she was hoping she could avoid Marissa.

“Dude, Seb is so hot! Why didn’t you tell me you had a hot best friend?

” Marissa accused as soon as she entered, as if she’d been holding in her words for hours.

Knowing her, she really was. The only reason Emily wouldn’t even think about firing her was that Marissa never broke the ‘gossip reserved for lunch breaks’ rule.

But she needed to set things straight right away to curtail the rumors. “Three things, he’s Sebastian or Mr. Raux, he’s not hot, and we barely know each other. He was exaggerating,” Emily clarified.

Marissa cleared Emily’s table, which was surprisingly messy today, and placed their lunches.

“Three things, he asked me to call him Seb, he is extremely, undeniably very, very hot, and he shared your high school pictures with us. You were totally best friends, and you looked nerdy as a kid,” Marissa said, beaming.

Emily’s face went hot. “What pictures?” she asked.

“I wasn’t surprised by the bangs, honestly.

I expected you to have them. But I’m thankful you decided to retire them.

They’d make your face look tinier,” Marissa continued, completely ignoring Emily.

She extended both her hands, framing Emily’s face without touching her like a movie director.

“Yeah, long hair brings out your sharp cheekbones so much better. And you’re lucky your hair has always been so straight, otherwise, maintaining bangs would have been a nightmare. By the way, where did your glasses go?”

“You know what, I’ll deal with it,” Emily fumed. She let her anger carry her to Sebastian’s office. Marissa was clearly not going to be of any help.

“Will you two have your lunch together? That’s so cute. Let me update the group chat!” she heard Marissa’s faint voice as she left her office.

What group chat? Urgh, that was a problem for future Emily. She pushed the door open without knocking. She wasn’t feeling very civil anymore.

Sebastian looked up from his screen with an easy smile that Emily immediately wanted wiped away. He appeared calm, as if he was expecting her to barge in. She didn’t have the time to hate how Sebastian always finds a way to be in control of every situation. She was on a mission.

“What pictures are you showing everyone?” Emily demanded.

Sebastian leaned back on his chair, relaxed as ever. “Oh, you want to see?” he said gleefully. He even opened his phone.

“No, I don’t want to see!” Emily growled. “Why are you showing pictures to my staff?”

Sebastian didn’t even look up from his phone. “Oh, I cleared it with Candace. She said it was okay!” he deadpanned, as if that answered everything.

Emily could feel her blood pressure rising. She wasn’t even sure if you could physically feel that. But she was sure her blood had reached its boiling point. She wanted to snatch Seb’s phone away, so he could see how angry she was.

“I’m still talking to you,” she declared instead of behaving like a five-year-old.

Sebastian looked up, a bit surprised. Emily celebrated the small win before that stupid smile was back on his face. “Of course. You know you always have all my attention,” he said.

Emily had the sudden urge to pick up the pen holder in front of the desk and throw it at Seb’s face. That surprised her because she had never thrown anything at anyone’s face in her entire twenty-six years of life.

Sebastian looked at the pen holder and moved it away from her. Could he read minds now? “Wow, Em, loving the violent streak! Anyway, look.” He turned his phone to show her the screen.

It was a disgusting collage of their pictures from high school and college, with the last one from this morning.

But Emily didn’t look angry in it. Huh! Maybe she had finally perfected her ‘no, I’m not planning murder in my head, I’m a sweet person’ smile.

It could also be because of dozens of tiny hearts spread around the pictures.

“Why would you make something so offensive?” Emily asked. She expected Sebastian to change over the years, but going batshit crazy was one thing she could not have predicted. Maybe that’s why he left without a word?

“I’m truly flattered you think I’m talented enough to do this. But it was shared on the group chat. People are shipping us!” he said cheerfully.

“What group chat?” she asked, feeling too lost to even retain her anger.

“Oh, of course, you’re not on it. You’re a narc,” Sebastian said with pity. “There’s another picture,” he said, moving his thumb over the phone. He looked at her doubtfully. “On second thought, I won’t show you, or the vein in your forehead will explode.” He kept his phone down.

Emily narrowed her eyes at him. “Stop sharing pictures with my team!” she ordered, truly feeling like she was throwing a fit.

“You got it!” Sebastian said and winked.

That was as clear and concise as she could be. So, she turned around and walked back to her office without any goodbyes.

Marissa was still in her office, slowly chipping away at her lunch.

“Why am I not on the team group chat?” she asked once she settled.

“Oh, you’re already sharing everything with each other?

” Marissa smiled. But her face immediately transformed into a furious expression.

“Even the things someone was particularly told not to share?” Marissa looked in the direction of Sebastian’s office.

With its intensity, it probably pierced through the wall and hit its intended target.

Emily let her get it out of her system and dug into her lunch. “That doesn’t answer my question,” she pointed out.

“Don’t worry, it’s not to bitch about you,” Marissa reassured.

“What! I wasn’t thinking that. Why would you bitch about me?” Emily asked, worried.

“Well, you did ask us to wrap up Simon’s birthday party early last week," Marissa complained, stealing a carrot stick from Emily’s plate when she had many left on her own.

“We were on a deadline, and your celebrations go up to two hours!” Emily protested.

“Well, that started the group chat. We had to channel all that energy somewhere,” Marissa said, as if that made all the sense in the world.

“I wish you guys would direct your energy at work while you’re here,” Emily mumbled.

“See, that’s why you don’t get included in chats. Everything is about working with you,” Marissa complained.

“You guys are so spoiled,” Emily countered. “I don’t know how any of you will survive if you ever have to work anywhere else.”

“Well, why would we do that?” Marissa looked at Emily like she was slow.

“Yeah, yeah! So, why are you making collages on the chain if it’s an anger channeling space?

” Emily inquired. She was curious, and she always failed to understand how the minds of her team worked.

They were brilliant at their work, but outside of it, they were all a bunch of weirdos who had accidentally found each other.

“Oh, that!” Marissa sputtered. “Seb showed you that? Well, that was brave of him,” Marissa mumbled. “But then again, you’re childhood boos, so it’d make sense,” she nodded.

“We were never boos!” Emily scoffed.

“Sure, sure,” Marissa nodded again.

“And delete the group chat. You can celebrate 30 minutes longer the next time it's someone’s birthday,” Emily offered. “There, no anger anymore.”

“For sure!” Marissa said, sarcastically.

Emily rolled her eyes.

They cleared the table together.

“I’ll hold you to the 30-minute extra,” Marissa said instead of goodbye.

Emily just smiled, even though she felt betrayed that her team had already included Sebastian in secret group chats.

But she should have guessed it. It wasn’t her team’s fault. It was just who Seb was.