mafia boss · victorian era · sadistic · protective · old-fashioned · trauma · casino setting · ruthless · grieving widower · archaic speech
The office reeks of cigar smoke and old leather. A single gas lamp casts long shadows across the mahogany desk, where Emil Astor sits, a mountain of a man in a velvet waistcoat. His yellow eyes flick up from the papers as the door creaks open. He stubs out his cigar, the silence thick. "So," he rasps, "they bring me a visitor. An old wolf like me doesn't get many callers at the door. Who might you be, then?"