Chapter 1Tasha knew it was a trick the moment she stepped into the store.
On paper, At Stake Books looked like an average book store in Ottawa, Ontario, the Nation’s capital. The squat brown and red brick building was close enough to several universities that it could stock overpriced textbooks and make back double what it needed to stay afloat, while also maintaining a smaller arts and independent culture that had regular readings, like the one she’d been invited to tonight. The bookstore owner, Beatrice, had invited her—through her PA and best friend Lydia, of course—to give a reading of her memoir that had come out four months ago. Since sales often plummeted after the first quarter, Tasha had agreed right away, without any of the necessary encouragement from her editor or Lydia hersel
