Before he could say anything, Tessa continued, “How could you coerce my mother into signing something like this?”

He held out a hand in defense. “Wait a minute—what? That’s not what happened. I—”

She snorted. A skeptical snort that proved she didn’t believe him at all. Or want to hear him out.

That made his anger flare. “You still don’t trust me, do you?” Leo prided himself on being a protector of those he loved. On being trustworthy. He’d never given her any reason to think otherwise.

“This is not about what I think of you,” she snapped. “It’s about a bill of sale for my mother’s business.” She picked up the paper and waved it in the air. “That she signed!”

“I thought we were way past fake marriages and over-the-top business arrangements. I thought we trusted each other, Tessa. I thought you knew me by now.” And know that I would never hurt you, he finished to himself. If he’d sounded hurt, it was because he was.

She shook her head. “I don’t know what to think.”

“Your mother came to me with this.” He tapped the paper with his finger. “I hid it, thinking you’d turn the bakery around so much that my dad wouldn’t be able to afford to buy it, even if he wanted to. Or that your mother would change her mind because business had improved. That’s it. The whole truth.” He tossed his hands up in a gesture of surrender.

He’d laid all the cards on the table.

“But why didn’t you tell me?”

“You’ll have to ask your mother about that.”

“I don’t like secrets, Leo.” She shook her head sadly. “Secrets always come out.”

Oh geez. That ass Sam. “I was protecting you.”

“I don’t want your protection.” She stabbed the air. “I want your honesty.”

She didn’t want his protection? He’d hid this from his dad. And held off her mom, too, for that matter. He’d shouldered the burden of keeping it quiet, thinking the deal would never come to fruition. “I kept this from you so you could be free to create without worrying. Without feeling so responsible that you’d stay here and sacrifice yourself for another fifteen years.” None of which, apparently, she seemed to appreciate.

She shook her head solemnly. “I can’t abide someone hiding the truth from me again. It makes me wonder if you’d planned this all along—to take over our business without my knowing.”

“Are you serious?” His usual calm was cracking.

“What am I supposed to think?”