They started with the nursery.
Elena did not expect that.
When Adrien led her out of the office and up the west staircase, she thought he was taking her to his study, or perhaps to some cold strategic room filled with schedules and legal documents. Instead, he stopped outside Noah's room and pushed the door open.
Soft light spilled across the carpet.
The small bed had been turned down for the night, the shelves stacked with books and toys arranged with careful order. The drawing Noah had made two days earlier was still taped crookedly to the side of the dresser.
Adrien stood in the doorway, hands at his sides.
"This room," he said, "will be photographed."
Elena looked at him. "Photographed?"
"Yes. The court asked for evidence of domestic stability. Household consistency matters."
She stepped inside slowly. "And this is part of it."
"Yes."
Elena turned in a slow circle, taking it in again with different eyes now. Not as a child's room. As evidence.
That changed something in her.
Everything in the last forty-eight hours had begun to feel like that. The breakfast table. The drive to the courthouse. The quiet moments with Noah. Their marriage itself. All of it vulnerable to being flattened into proof or performance.
She looked back at Adrien.
"Do you hate this?"
His gaze moved over the room, resting briefly on the stuffed bear near the pillow.
"Yes."
The honesty in it caught her off guard.
"Because it feels invasive?"
"Because it turns him into a case file."
Elena's chest tightened.
That answer mattered.
Before she could say anything, Noah's voice sounded from the hall.
"Why is my door open?"
He appeared in the doorway a second later, still half asleep, hair soft with sleep, bear tucked under one arm. He blinked at them both in mild confusion.
"What are you doing?"
Elena crouched to his level.
"We came to look at your room."
"Why?"
She hesitated.
Adrien answered.
"Because grown-ups are being difficult again."
Noah frowned. "The board people?"
Adrien glanced at Elena before looking back at Noah. "And some other people."
Noah nodded as if that made perfect sense.
"They're always difficult."
Elena smiled faintly. "That is surprisingly accurate."
Noah stepped into the room and climbed onto the bed, settling against the pillows. "Are they mad because you got married?"
The question hung gently in the air.
Adrien did not answer at once.
Then he said, "Some of them."
Noah seemed to think that over.
"That's silly," he decided.
"Why?" Elena asked softly.
"Because you're both here."
The simplicity of it silenced the room.
Adrien looked away first.
Elena felt something shift in her chest, subtle and unsettling and warmer than she wanted to name.
Noah yawned widely, then held out his bear. "Can he stay on the bed for the picture?"
Adrien's gaze returned to him. "What picture?"
Noah blinked. "You said photos."
Elena looked sharply at Adrien.
He didn't react, but she saw the small tightness around his eyes.
Children understand more than adults assume.
She had said it once in a courtroom. Now she was living it.
Adrien crossed to the bed and adjusted the blanket with hands that were precise even in tenderness.
"Yes," he said quietly. "He can stay."
Noah nodded, satisfied. Then he reached for Elena's hand.
"You too."
Elena sat carefully on the edge of the bed.
Noah leaned briefly against her side in the unthinking, trusting way only children could.
Adrien stood on the other side of the room, looking at them both.
For one strange second, the room felt still in a way it had not in days. Not strategic. Not defensive. Just still.
Then Noah looked up at Adrien.
"You should sit too."
Adrien did not move.
Noah repeated, slower this time, as if speaking to someone unusually difficult, "So it looks normal."
Elena bit back a smile.
Adrien's eyes narrowed slightly, but there was no heat in it. He crossed the room and sat on the opposite side of the bed, not too close, not far enough to disappear from the picture Noah had apparently already composed in his head.
Noah looked between them, then nodded once.
"Better."
A soft knock interrupted the moment.
Martin stepped into the room, followed by a woman with a camera case in one hand and a folder in the other.
She froze at the sight of all three of them already in position.
"Oh," she said. "I can come back."
"No," Adrien said.
The photographer recovered quickly. "I'll be discreet."
Elena nearly laughed at the idea. There was nothing discreet about turning a child's bedroom into legal proof.
Still, the woman moved quietly, professionally, taking only a few shots. Noah sat up straighter, clutching his bear, then whispered loudly to Elena, "Do I smile?"
"Yes," Elena whispered back.
He did.
Adrien did not.
But when the woman lowered the camera, she looked oddly relieved.
"These are good," she said. "Natural."
Natural.
Elena almost asked what part of any of this was natural.
Instead she stood once the woman left, smoothing the blanket absently.
Noah looked up at her. "Am I helping?"
She touched his cheek gently. "Very much."
He smiled sleepily. "Good."
When they finally left the room and pulled the door mostly closed behind them, the hallway felt colder than before.
Adrien leaned one shoulder lightly against the wall.
"That was one part," he said.
"One part," Elena repeated.
"How many parts are there?"
"Too many."
She crossed her arms. "Tell me all of them."
Adrien studied her face for a long second, as if deciding how much of the truth to hand over at once.
Then he said, "Photos. Household records. Statements from staff. A documented routine. Evidence that you live here, function here, belong here."
Belong here.
The phrase landed harder than expected.
Elena looked down the hallway toward the staircase, toward the polished beauty of the estate and all the scrutiny buried beneath it.
"And if it still isn't enough?"
Adrien's voice remained calm.
"Then we give them more."
Before she could answer, Mrs. Laurent appeared at the far end of the corridor, her expression unreadable.
"I assume the photographer has finished," she said.
Adrien straightened. "For now."
Her gaze moved to Elena. "The court will want witnesses."
Elena frowned. "Witnesses?"
"Yes," Mrs. Laurent said. "People who can speak to your presence in this house. Your routine. Your role with Noah."
Adrien's jaw tightened. "We already have staff statements."
Mrs. Laurent dismissed that with a slight movement of her hand. "Staff can be bought, dismissed, or called biased. Family carries more weight."
Elena understood immediately.
"You."
Mrs. Laurent's gaze stayed on hers. "If necessary."
The words were calm, but Elena heard what mattered underneath them.
If necessary.
Not because she liked the arrangement.
Not because she trusted it.
But because Victor would not be allowed to use the family name without resistance.
Adrien looked at his mother carefully. "You're volunteering."
"I am protecting Laurent interests," she replied.
"And Noah?" Elena asked.
Mrs. Laurent paused.
Then, quieter than before, "And Noah."
It was not warmth.
But it was the closest thing to sincerity Elena had heard from her yet.
A vibration sounded from Adrien's pocket.
He checked his phone, and whatever he read changed the line of his mouth immediately.
"What now?" Elena asked.
His eyes lifted to hers.
"Our lawyer reviewed the anonymous statement."
A beat passed.
"It wasn't anonymous."
The hallway seemed to narrow.
Elena stepped closer. "Who?"
Adrien's voice stayed level, but something dangerous had entered it now.
"Victor used one of the house staff."
Mrs. Laurent went still.
Elena felt the meaning hit all at once.
The court request. The speed. The details.
Someone inside the estate had fed him exactly what he needed.
Adrien locked the screen of his phone.
"He's not just attacking from the outside," he said quietly.
"He's inside the house."
And for the first time since the urgent hearing request, Elena understood that proving the marriage was real might not be their hardest problem.
Because now they had to do it while living with betrayal under the same roof.