Adrian said no.
Not loudly. Not with the heated opposition of someone reacting emotionally. He said it the way he said most things, with the even, unambiguous certainty of a man who had considered the question and arrived at a conclusion that he didn't expect to be argued with.
"Absolutely not," he said, which was two words more than none but carried the same weight.
I looked at him in his mother's sitting room with his father's letter still on the cushion between us and Reyes still on the line and said, with equal calm: "That's not your decision."
A pause that had texture.
"Sophia"
"I'll call you back in five minutes," I said to Reyes, and ended the call. Then I looked at Adrian fully. "I understand why you're saying no. I'm asking you to think past the instinct."
"The instinct is
