Her gaze held his. “That was years ago. Why would he wait so long and suddenly start terrorizing me? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Every man you dated. Every lover. I need to know all the secrets, Piper.” A dark anger boiled inside of him. “You can’t hold anything back from me. This isn’t some game.” He leaned toward her. “Your life is on the line.”

Her breathing came faster. “I never thought it was a game.”

“No? Then don’t hold back on me. Don’t forget to tell me that your ex, the easy going one, took a swing at my brother.” Eric shook his head and thought about the damage to her canvases. The fire at her home. “What else are you holding back?” His voice dropped.

“Easy,” Ben cautioned.

Eric shook his head. “Hell, no. You’ve both been holding back on me. That shit can’t happen. I get that the two of you have always kept your secrets from the rest of the world. But that time is over. No more secrets. No more holding back.” His stare focused totally on Piper. “I can’t keep you safe if I’m in the dark. What else haven’t you told me? What else are you hiding?”

“There’s nothing.”

“Another lover? Another guy who wanted to get closer but you shut him down?”

Ben put a protective hand on her shoulder. “Okay, man, ease up. Let’s all take a breath.”

Piper jumped to her feet. “You’re acting like I did this. Like I made this happen.”

“No!” Shit. He yanked a hand through his hair. She was turning and rushing away. He bounded after her. Closed his hand around her shoulder and swung her back to face him. “Someone wants you. Don’t you see that? Someone is obsessed. Trying to hurt you. I can’t let you be hurt.”

Behind him, Ben had fallen silent.

Eric released a slow breath, but he didn’t let her go. “I have to know what I’m dealing with. If there are more secrets, if these perfect assholes from your past did something I need to know about, tell me that shit. I need the truth, not a convenient lie.”

“No one is perfect,” Piper threw back.

He sure as hell wasn’t.

His phone vibrated. With his free hand, he yanked out his phone and saw the text from Simon.

Grady Fox isn’t in LA. Just got confirmation. The guy took a private flight to Atlanta last week. He’s supposed to be at some kind of tradeshow. But I just talked to the manager at his hotel…Grady paid for a full week, but he hasn’t shown up for the last four days.

Fuck.

“Eric? What is it?” Piper demanded.

He glanced up at her. “Grady is back in town.”

Chapter Ten

“I don’t like the way you’re looking at Piper, bro.”