Page 18 of I Remember Moscato

That one sentence makes my whole world stop.

“H-how do you know where I was found?”

“I told you, I’m your mother. Just hear me out. Please.”

Something inside me wants to listen, but I also want to walk away. She fucking abandoned me. Why should I listen to her?

“I don’t want to hear anything you have to say. You made your choice that night you dumped me.”

“I didn’t have a choice. If I didn’t leave you there, they were going to kill you.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Luciana blurts out.

“I never wanted to leave you, Quinn. Please believe me. That day was the second-worst day of my life.”

“Shouldn’t that be the worst day?” Chloe snaps at her.

“That’s why I need to talk to you. But I don’t want to talk here. Is there somewhere we can go? Somewhere a little more private?”

As much as I don’t want to, something is telling me I need to hear her out. That it will bring closure to that part of my life.

“I need to call Jagger. Do you know anywhere we can take her?” I ask Luciana.

“Yes. We can go to Lake Renegade. I’ll call Mam and ask her if we can use the bakery.”

“Thank you.”

We all walk to the car, and Amante gets in to drive. It takes us a couple of hours to get to Lake Renegade. Jagger is going to meet us there and he’s bringing Salvatore. Apparently Jagger got another letter and he was just leaving Salvatore’s precinct when I called.

“I want to apolo?—”

“Not now,” I say to Veronica. She nods at me and stays quiet for the rest of the ride.

We arrive at the bakery at the same time as Jagger, the Mancinis and the Cimaruta MC. Luciana’s dad, Giacomo, leads everyone into the bakery.

“Okay. First of all, who are you?” Enea Mancini, head of the Chicago Mafia asks Veronica.

“I-I’m Veronica Burrows. My father is the head of the Portside Mafia in Oregon.”

Jagger

Right as I was leaving the precinct, I got the call from Quinn. She asked me to meet her in Lake Renegade. Then she said something about her birth mom being there. I don’t really understand what’s going on. But Salvatore and I are headed there now. I’m trying not to panic, but the fear and anxiety in Quinn’s voice worries me.

“Tell me again what Quinn said,” Salvatore says to me.

“She said this woman is claiming to be her birth mother and that she knows who’s behind the letters. And what they want.”

“Is Quinn doing okay?”

“I think she’s doing the best she can. I’m glad everyone is with her. I would hate it if she was alone when this happened.”

Salvatore nods. “Our family and the Bastianini family live by a different set of rules. I’m not sure if you know, but Lorenzo and Giovanna were kidnapped when we were really little. And that changed how our family did things. I mean, we were different already because our family is mafia. But their kidnapping made my uncle reassess our family’s security. And he decided we needed more protection.”

“Wow. But they’re back now. How did you find them?”

“We didn’t. They were gone for twenty-three years. It was pure coincidence that they came back to us.”

“That’s so crazy. I’m glad they’re back. I don’t know what I would do if I lost any of my siblings.”