The Black Coats(41)
Thea checked his pulse. “Okay, he’s down. Now, let’s get ready for the party.” Thea grabbed his legs as Mirabelle and Louise dragged him by his arms over to an expensive chaise longue and propped him up against the back, his body slumping forward like a rag doll.
Casey popped out the bottom of the Shiny House Cleaners bucket and pulled out a roll of duct tape, wrapping it around him and the chair several times. She then checked his breathing. “We’re still good. Go.”
The team went to work after slipping their coats back on. From their tubs of chemicals, they pulled out folded posters of the faces of Amadoor’s victims: his wife, his daughter, and the women from the hotel. Giant photographs of eyes swollen with blood, of lips gashed, of hair that had been ripped out, X-rays of broken ribs—every single one went up on the wall. The luminaries, as always, had done their prep work perfectly. The names of the officers who had let him off with warning after warning were spray-painted across his priceless pieces of art in huge black letters: Officer Ramses, Shame on You. Officer Lee, You Were Supposed to Protect. They hung up posters everywhere: his foyer, the living room, the patio, and one right above his bed. Thea made sure another photo was pushed deep into his one-thousand-thread-count sheets. As she rolled out photo after terrible photo, the Balancing sheet popped up in her mind: Make sure he never hurts anyone again.
As they worked, Casey was on her custom Black Coats laptop, uploading the lists of his crimes and the pictures of his victims to all his social media sites, including his business website. Thea was spray-painting a list of his assaults onto his patio glass when she heard Louise give a shout: “He’s waking up!”
Thea ran back into the living room, where Team Banner circled around Raphael, each staring down at him in pure hatred.
Mirabelle grinned when he opened his eyes. “Good afternoon, Mr. Amadoor.”
Sixteen
Raphael looked down at his restraints. “What the hell is this? Untie me this instant!”
“Yeah, I don’t think so,” said Thea menacingly. “We are here to make sure that you are unable to hurt women ever again. That’s what pathetic men like you do, you see? They use their money or their strength to exploit those who they should protect. Neither your money nor your power is here to protect you now.” She leaned forward. “And we do not bend.”
She nodded and stepped back but was still surprised when Louise flew forward to punch him hard across the face. Thea jumped, hearing the crack of Louise’s knuckles connect with his cheekbone, feeling deep inside her chest the snap of Amadoor’s neck as it bounced off the back of the chair. Oh. My. God.
“You . . .” He blinked in shock.
“Whatever you are about to call us, we’ve heard it before,” snapped Casey. “It’s amazing how powerless those words become when you decide they have no power over you.”
Amadoor was looking around the room now, the beginnings of panicked fear showing on his face. “Are you here to kill me?”
Thea waited a few seconds longer than she needed to before answering. “No. Not today. But your reign of terror over women you claim to love is coming to an end.”
Raphael spat blood onto the floor. “They deserved every bit of it.”
Thea went to open her mouth but was suddenly shoved violently aside by Louise. “Move.” Thea looked over at her, surprised at the animal fury plastered across Louise’s normally cheery face.
“Louise?” she whispered, not recognizing the person before her.
With a snarl, Louise leaped onto the chair, planting her heeled boot on Raphael’s chest before letting her momentum push the chair backward. It hit the marble floor with a violent crack, shards of wood spinning away from them. Louise snarled in his face, the sharp point of her boot pressing deep into Raphael’s chest. He yelped in pain as she twisted her foot back and forth. She brought her hand across his face again with a quick slap and then squeezed his chin with one hand, bringing her face down toward his own, angry words tumbling from her mouth.
“I know men like you, Raphael. I’ve known them all my life: my father and his brothers, all cruel men like you. Do you know what I remember from my childhood?”
Raphael’s lip quivered. “Are you going to kill me?”
Louise ignored him. No one breathed as she continued. “I remember hiding in our hall closet, pressed up against one of my mother’s furs, stuffing it deeper and deeper into my mouth to keep from screaming as my father hit her again and again and again.” A hot tear dripped down her face. “Did you know, Raphael, that when I get a fever, I still taste those furs, that horrible mix of smoke and animal on my tongue?” She bit back a sob before boxing his ears with both fists. Raphael cried out, and something uncomfortable twisted inside of Thea. “My father stole my childhood, and the childhood of all my siblings, just so he could feel bigger about himself, feel like a man. I will always be broken because of what he did. I will never be able to love normally because of what he did.” She took a jagged breath that tore at Thea’s heart. “Just like you, he always had an excuse for it. Said we deserved it. Then one glorious day, they found his body under a highway bridge, because he messed with the wrong person.” A smile crossed her face beneath her dripping tears. “Do you know what we did that night we got the news that my father had died?”