She was in her room at five o’clock when the knock came.
She opened the door expecting — she wasn’t sure what she was expecting. A hotel staff member with something routine.
It was a hotel staff member.
A young woman in the hotel uniform, holding a large white box with both hands and a small envelope on top of it.
“Mr Salvatore asked me to give this to you,” she said with a warm professional smile.
She held out the box.
Rosalina took it.
The staff member left.
Rosalina stood in the middle of her hotel room holding the box for exactly five seconds.
Then she sat on the edge of the bed and opened it.
The tissue paper parted.
And she stopped breathing for a moment.
The gown was deep blue — the kind of blue that was almost black in some lights and entirely itself in others. Floor le
