Maris turned the video off and returned Darling’s computer to the nightstand. “That was what we were dealing with before you came here.”

“What did he say to you at the end?”

A tic started in Maris’s jaw. “ ‘I won’t forgive. I won’t forget. Let hell open and rain my wrath down on them all. I will not be stopped and I have no mercy left inside me. I am death and I revel in the killing of my enemies. Bring me them all until I’m drunk on their blood.’ ”

Yeah, that was extreme, and that was the same man who’d overturned his desk in a fit of rage the night Maris had brought her here. “Weren’t you afraid of him?”

“Honestly? I was at times. Afraid for me, but mostly for Darling.” He glanced to where Darling slept on the bed. “If you leave, Zarya, he won’t come back again. I know it. He’ll be destroyed.”

And if she stayed, her allies would do everything they could to kill him.

“Where is that rank little bastard!”

Her eyes widened at the sound of a shrieking female voice outside in the hallway. A second later, the doors to Darling’s bedroom flew open to reveal a tall, auburn-haired goddess.

Zarya’s jaw went slack at the sight. The pictures she’d seen didn’t do Annalise justice. The woman was frighteningly beautiful.

And she was fiercely pissed.

Lise swept the room with an imperious glare before she stormed toward Darling with a furious snarl.

Zarya put herself between Darling and his sister. Not sure of Lise’s plans or the source of her anger, she wasn’t about to let the girl hurt him.

Just as Zarya thought she’d be attacked, Lise ran at Maris and punched him so hard in the jaw that his head snapped back.

“How could you? You sorry son of a bitch! I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!”

Completely dumbfounded, Zarya was frozen in total shock as the girl continued to assault Maris until he wrapped himself around her and held her tight against his body. Still, she fought, shrieking so loudly that it echoed through the room.

“Sh, Lise,” Maris breathed soothingly in her ear. “It’s okay.”

Lise sobbed hysterically as she fought against Maris’s hold.

Never had Zarya seen anything like this. Was there some kind of madness that infected Darling’s entire family she needed to know about?

What had Maris done to Lise to cause this?

Syn came rushing in with an injector.

When he went to sedate her, Maris stopped him with a fierce shake of his head. “She’ll be all right.” He tightened his hold on Lise’s body. “Breathe, little sister. Just breathe.”

Tears flowed down her cheeks as her lips quivered. “I hate you!”

“I’m so sorry.”

“No, you’re not! You asshole!” She tried to hit him again, but he held her fast. Instead, she reared her head back, smashing it into Maris’s face.

Somehow, he maintained his grip on her.