She disappeared, just for a second when she left the stairs. He waited for her to reappear.

“Eric!”

There was fear and anger in her voice, and he immediately bounded up the stairs after her. He grabbed the metal railing and rushed up, his heart racing, and when he cleared the top, sonofabitch, there was blood everywhere.

Every-fucking-where.

Chapter Seven

The truth sank in with his second, frantic glance. No, it wasn’t blood. It was paint. Red paint had been poured all over her floor. Thrown onto the walls. Thrown onto the canvases.

Shit. The canvases.

Piper stood—statue-still—in front of a large canvas. The red paint had dried in streaks on it. “I was almost finished with this piece. It…it was for a show I’m doing next month.” Jerkily, her head moved as she looked at the other canvases that had been covered in red paint. “They were for the show. I’ve lost them all.”

Rage poured through him.

Her hand lifted, as if she’d touch her canvas.

He rushed to her, catching her fingers in his. “Don’t touch anything, baby. I want my team out here.”

She blinked. “The alarm didn’t go off.” Her lower lip trembled. “After the break-in at my house, I came here. I looked downstairs. Everything was fine there, so I didn’t even think to come up here and look around. I didn’t know.” Tears filled her eyes. “He torched my home. He destroyed my work. He—”

Eric pulled her into his arms, pulled her against his chest, and wrapped her in his embrace. He held her tightly and wished that he could take away every single bit of her pain.

Even as he wanted to destroy the sonofabitch who’d done this to her.

“What is he going to do next?” Piper whispered. “What will he do to me next?”

“Nothing,” Eric promised her. “I’m not going to let him. I swear it.” The security system there was his. He’d find out why the hell it hadn’t sent out an alert. He’d review all of the camera footage and motion sensor data. He’d find out when the bastard had come to her place.

Then he’d get local traffic cam videos. He’d nail the piece of shit.

“We need to get out of here, Piper.” He was still holding her in his arms. “We don’t want to destroy any evidence left behind. I’ll have my team here within the next five minutes.”

“We should call the cops.”

Yeah, he would. But he wanted his team on scene first.