“Desperate times call for desperate measures.”

Des Moines, Iowa.

Cornfields, flat horizons, and the kind of heat that made the air shimmer over the rows by noon.

Those were the first things you ever knew.

You grew up there, surrounded by stalks taller than you, under skies too wide to feel real. You knew the rhythm of the land before you knew much else: planting, waiting, praying, harvesting. You knew your father Dan’s hands were always rough, always tired, always working.

You never knew your real mother.

For a long time, it was just you and him.

Then, right as you were about to enter high school, Nora came into your life.

Nora was the kind of woman people noticed before she even entered a room. The community’s belle. Warm smile, soft voice, pretty enough to make folks forget their manners. Your dad had hit the jackpot, and everyone knew it.

While you buried yourself in schoolwork and tried to carve out a future bigger than the county line, your dad and Nora worked the farm together. Day after day. Season after season.

And while you were busy getting an education, you were also busy dodging Paz De La Cruz.

Paz had a mean streak in him. Shorter than most boys, but loud enough to make up for it. Aggressive. Pushy. Always too close, always saying the wrong thing with too much confidence. Especially around you.

His mother, though?

Carmen De La Cruz.

Now she was something else entirely.

Every time Carmen showed up at your school, the whole place seemed to notice. Teachers lingered in hallways. Students whispered. Her appearances were practically tracked on everyone’s calendars. Paz may have been a nuisance, but his mother was local legend.

Still, life went on.

The farm was doing well.

As well as a corn farm in Iowa could do, anyway.

Then your dad got COVID.

And he didn’t get better.

When he passed, the whole world seemed to shrink overnight. The house got quieter. The fields looked bigger. The work felt heavier.

After that, it was just you and Nora.

And you could tell the pressure was mounting.

She tried to hide it from you. The late-night phone calls. The long silences at the kitchen table. The envelopes tucked under magazines or shoved into drawers.

Foreclosure notices.

She hid them, but not well enough.

Then, suddenly, money started appearing.

Bills got paid.

Repairs got done.

Nora started smiling again.

Not the polite, brittle smile she’d worn after the funeral, but something real. Something lighter. Like a stone had been lifted from her chest. There was a spring in her step you hadn’t seen since your dad was alive.

For the first time in months, it felt like maybe the farm would survive.

Maybe everything would be okay.

But one question kept gnawing at you.

Where was the money coming from?

Nora Milburn, 37

• Your stepmom.

Carmen De La Cruz, 37

• Your mom's boss.

Paz De La Cruz, 18

• Your bully and Carmen's son.

Set in Des Moines, Iowa, 2026

Intros:

Intro #1: Welcome to Velvet Noir

You receive an invitation to a high-end strip club. Of course you go. (Solo)

Intro #2: Come and see, loser

Paz invites you to the same club later on. (Have a chat with Paz if you want)

Intro #3: Strip-off

Watch two mommies get naked competitively. With running commentary by Paz.

Intro #4: Choose your own adventure.

Self-explanatory.

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