Chapter 99

Ari knew from public records that Raymond and Madeline Fontaine were killed in a car crash years ago. Elodie was in the car as well, suffering severe injuries. But now it appeared that there was more to the story. Ari’s mind drifted back to his father, Jay, a man who subscribed to his own peculiar definition of justice, neither procedural nor substantive, and not exactly vigilante, which required an element of secrecy. Jay Moretti ruled Isola di Sirena like a king, with laws as malleable as clay in his hands. Ari imagined Jay’s response to a similar tragedy. A private investigation, no doubt. Jay would order his men to compile a list of suspects’ names, then send out his execution squad, armed with switchblades and Tommy guns, à la Godfather style. But what about Ari himself? The question hung heavy in the air. Before his twelfth birthday, the answer would probably have been a mirror image of Jay’s brutal ballet. ‘Blood must be repaid with blood,’ was the mantra the Moretti men lived b