Wolf Girl

Chapter 13-Brayden

Brayden closed the front door behind her in frustration when she got into the house. Every time she ran into Ashton, it took everything she had not to punch him in the face. Or rip his clothes off, though she was still trying to figure out why she kept having that fantasy. He was a fucking contradiction. He had told her to stay out of his way, yet he was there every time she turned around. Brayden was so caught up in her annoyance with Ashton, that at first she didn't notice how quiet her house was. Her house was never quiet. Grant Hayward was surprisingly loud when he had meetings via video conference.

"Mom? Dad?" she called out. When she heard nothing back, she started upstairs. They were most likely in their office with their headphones on. "Mom? Dad?"

She walked into the office and frowned when there was no sign of her parents. The room was supposed to be their joint office, even though she knew her father only tolerated her mother's presence in his workspace. Estelle was the only one who didn't see it. Brayden walked downstairs and into the kitchen. She noticed a little piece of paper on the table with her name on it.

"Brayden," she read after she unfolded it. "We went out to dinner. There's a twenty on the counter for pizza. Love you, Mom." She crumpled up the note, rolling her eyes. "Thanks for the heads up, guys."

Brayden then realized that a golden opportunity had just fallen into her lap. She could finally go through her mother's things and find answers. She ran up the stairs and rushed into her parents' office once again.

"Now, if I were Estelle's clandestine secrets, where would I be?" she muttered to herself, scanning the office before zeroing in on the desk. "That's too easy."

Brayden shook her head and started poking through the filing cabinet, to no avail, but then turned back to the desk. Her mother wasn't a secret agent. At least, Brayden was pretty sure she wasn't. Estelle would have still been thinking about their conversation and if she had any remnants of her past hidden somewhere she might have been sifting through them within easy reach. Granted, Brayden didn't know her mother as well as she might have wanted to, but it was something she would have done herself. Her mind made up, Brayden sat down behind the desk and hurriedly looked through the drawers. There was no way of knowing exactly when her parents would tire of each other's company and come home. When she found nothing of interest she slumped back in defeat. It didn't look like she was going to find the answers any time soon.

Brayden put her hands on the desk to push the chair out and her thumb brushed against a latch. Excitedly, she crouched under the desk and saw what looked like a hidden compartment behind the real drawer.

"Mom, you're amazing," she whispered. Slowly, she edged her fingers into the compartment and felt around until she touched something that felt like slips of paper. She carefully pulled them out and looked at them in shock.