Chapter 1

I almost talked myself out of going.

His address sat glowing on my phone screen like a warning, or a dare. The house itself didn’t help, one of those tall, glass-fronted places in the rich part of town. It was the kind of place where celebrities and people in politics lived.

For a second, I stood there on the front step with my backpack slung over one shoulder and thought, What am I doing tutoring someone who could buy my entire neighbourhood with his gym-bag change?

But the ...