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A man unto himself.

He didn’t give a damn about alliances or allegiances. Didn’t care about the careful balance of power that men like my father spent their lives maintaining. All he cared about was his family. Those closest to him. The few people he had chosen to protect.

And thankfully, impossibly, Madigan was one of them.

I didn’t know his whole story. Didn’t know how a girl from an Irish family had ended up under the protection of a man like Sinclair. But I had heard whispers over the years. Connections through her mother’s side. Old debts. The kind of complicated history that bound people together in ways that couldn’t be easily explained or undone.

Whatever the reason, Sinclair considered Madigan family.

And that was the only reason I was sitting in his office right now, asking for help I had no right to ask for.

With nowhere else to turn, I had called the Devil himself.

It was a gamble. The kind of gamble that could get me killed if I played it wrong. But I didn’t have any other choice. Giovanni couldn’t help me—he was too tied to the family, too invested in maintaining the status quo. And Luciano was already risking too much just by keeping my secrets.

That left Sinclair.

The one man who had the power to make Madigan disappear. To hide her somewhere her family would never find her. To protect her in ways I couldn’t.

So I’d made the call.

And now I sat here, Madigan’s hand gripped tightly in mine, waiting to see if the Devil would help us or destroy us.

Sinclair stopped pacing and turned to face us. His expression was unreadable, but I could feel the weight of his assessment. He was measuring me. Deciding whether I was worth the trouble.

“You understand what you’re asking,” he said finally.

Not a question.

A statement.

“Yes.”

“You’re asking me to hide her from her father. From your family. From everyone who might come looking.” He crossed his arms, his gaze sharp. “You’re asking me to make her disappear?”

“Yes.”

“And you.” He tilted his head slightly. “What happens to you?”

“I’ll go back,” I said, my words tasting like ash. “I will continue working for my family. I will keep up appearances and make sure no one suspects anything.”

“While she’s alone. Pregnant. Hidden away like a dirty secret.”

His words hit like a physical blow, but I forced myself to hold his gaze. “While she’s safe. While our child is safe. That’s all that matters.”

Sinclair studied me for a long moment, then shifted his attention to Madigan. “Is this what you want, my dear?”

She nodded, her voice steady despite the tears I could see threatening. “I don’t have any other choice. If my father finds out⁠—”

“He won’t.” Sinclair’s voice was flat, absolute. “If I do this, he won’t find you. No one will. I will make sure of it.”

Relief flooded through me, so intense it was almost painful. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet.” Sinclair moved to his desk and leaned against it, his expression hardening. “This isn’t charity, Valentinetti. I don’t do favors out of the goodness of my heart.”

I had known this was coming. Had known there would be a price. “What do you want?”

“Information,” he said simply, like it was the most natural thing in the world. “You continue working for your family. You report everything you learn directly to me. Shipments, meetings, deals, conflicts. Everything.”