Chapter 14 - The Boy in the PhotographEthan discovered the photograph accidentally.
Daniel had left Anna’s childhood diary on his desk.
A picture slipped out.
It showed Anna inside the barn beside another child.
Not Daniel.
A boy around six years old.
On the back:
MICHAEL — Summer 2002.
Daniel showed it to Anna.
“Who’s Michael?”
She stared at the photograph.
“I wondered when he’d appear.”
“Who was he?”
“A foster child Robert brought to the farm.”
Daniel frowned.
“Robert never had foster children.”
“Officially, no.”
Anna explained that Robert’s girlfriend at the time worked with a private child-placement organization.
Michael stayed at Carter Ridge for several months.
“He was always hungry,” Anna said.
Daniel’s stomach tightened.
“Was he kept in the barn?”
“Sometimes.”
“Why?”
“Robert said he stole food.”
Daniel looked at the photograph again.
Ethan wasn’t the first child associated with that hidden room.
“What happened to Michael?”
“He disappeared before I did.”
“Did anyone investigate?”
“Grandma tried.”
“And?”
“Robert claimed Michael had been transferred.”
“Was he?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel contacted Melissa.
By evening she had found records.
Michael Reeves had indeed been moved to another foster home.
He was alive.
Thirty years old.
Living in Cincinnati.
Daniel called him.
At first Michael refused to speak.
Then Daniel said Anna’s name.
Silence.
“You know Anna?”
“Yes.”
Michael’s voice changed.
“Is she alive?”
Daniel looked across the room at his sister.
“She’s sitting beside me.”
May you like
![92 The Girl They Called Broke Was a Billionaire’s Daughter—But Her Father’s Arrival Exposed a Secret Powerful People Had Buried for Years]](https://cdn.treeiq.biz/site_590/2026/11/clone-0-0915d882-53d7-4d17-b43a-a010ca1a1068.webp)
Michael exhaled shakily.
“Then finally someone else can prove I wasn’t lying.”
Related Stories
