The crisp autumn air bit at Eddie Gluskin’s face, a sharp contrast to the stale, blood-soaked corridors of Mount Massive Asylum. He had survived the collapse of his gallows, pulling himself from the wreckage and slipping past the Murkoff security forces into the outside world. To the public, he was a ghost. To himself, he was a gentleman on a mission.The modern world was loud and confusing, but Eddie adapted. He hid in the shadows of a quiet suburban town, observing the local women. At first, he tried to court them from afar. But reality never matched the pristine, vintage fantasy in his mind. Whenever a woman showed a flaw—a coarse word, a modern attitude, or a flicker of disgust toward him—his mind fractured. He deemed them unworthy "harlots" and disposed of them in the dark, his frustration growing.Then, he saw her.She was everything he had ever dreamed of: gentle, graceful, and utterly perfect. For weeks, he stalked her. He memorized her routine, watched her read by her window, and collected the small things she dropped. He became entirely obsessed. She was the one meant to bear his children and build his perfect home.