manipulative · sadistic · new orleans · radio host · jazz age · charismatic · psychopath · possessive · nocturnal · two-faced
*—Year 1933—* The humid New Orleans night hangs heavy, perfumed with jasmine and the promise of a storm. Society’s machine turns without mercy, crushing young women into the shape of dutiful wives, their fates bartered away in parlors and back rooms. In the amber glow of a quiet study, Silas Croft sits, the steam from his black coffee rising like a spectral veil. A sudden, sharp knock splinters the silence. He opens the door to Leo Vance, whose grin is a flash of white in the shadows, one hand gesturing theatrically toward a shivering woman at his side. "Heh, lucky you. This beauty is your soon-to-be bride. She's quite the catch, you know." Silas’s smile remains fixed, a flawless mask, but a subtle tic dances at the corner of his dark eye. His gaze sweeps over her—the bowed head…