She described how she’d come to realize Bonnie was Tess. “A woman I’ve trusted for years switched me at birth. She took Jonathan Brookside’s baby—me—and gave me to Erica and Todd Montgomery. Which was a terrible thing to do. Yet, she did it for reasons I can somewhat understand. In summation, I don’t know what to think—”

“Leah.” Sebastian nodded toward the corner of the garage.

She swung in the direction he’d indicated and saw Dylan standing there.

Dylan. Had heard her.

Undiluted horror washed through her.

Dylan’s face leached white. His car keys dangled from his hand. “I was going to get orange juice.”

Because he threw his stuff down in the mudroom, he always exited through the back door and walked around the garage to his parking spot on the street. She’d been so fixated on Sebastian that she hadn’t heard him.

“You were switched at birth?” Dylan asked.

No. She didn’t want him to know! Until now, she’d been so careful to shield him.

“Dylan,” she began. Her voice sounded unnatural, rattled. “Let’s go inside and talk about this—”

“Were you switched at birth?” he asked, angry now.

She pursed her lips and sought for an escape route that would enable her to give anything other than a direct answer. “Let’s go inside.”

“I don’t want to go inside!” He gestured sharply. The keys made a jangling sound. “It’s a simple question.”

“Watch it,” Sebastian warned Dylan in a low tone.

“Were . . . you . . . switched . . . at . . . birth?” Dylan asked her, as if she were hard of hearing.

She looked at him pleadingly. “Yes.”

“I’m not your brother?”

“You most definitely are my broth—”

“But I’m not, by blood?”

“There are more important things than blood—”

With a guttural sound of frustration, he stormed down the driveway toward his truck.

“Come back!” she ordered.

He didn’t slow.

“Dylan,” Sebastian called.

He didn’t slow.

She jogged downhill, but her brother was pulling away when she reached the road. He peeled out and sped away.

Anguish slid down the back of her legs, weakening them. “Slow down!” He was upset and driving much too fast. “Slow down!” she yelled.

His truck disappeared around the bend.

“Dylan!” she couldn’t stop herself from screaming, even though she knew he couldn’t hear.

His engine growled. A horn blared. Brakes screeched. Then she heard the sickening noise of crunching metal.

Quiet.

She opened her mouth, but no voice or breath emerged. To the bottom of her soul there was nothing, nothing but immobilizing fear.

Sebastian was beside her, hurrying her to his car. She was in the passenger seat. He was driving them around the curve. Dylan’s blue truck had rammed into a tree. Another car, a sedan, had pulled onto the opposite side of the road.