PARIS | lando norris

049. there's escape in escaping

CHAPTER FORTY NINE
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❛ there's escape in escaping ❜

Suzuka never felt quiet.

Even before the engines started, the place thrummed with energy – a low, constant vibration that seemed to live in the ground itself. The air carried everything at once: the distant whine of cars pushing through practice laps, the murmur of thousands of voices blending into something indistinct, the occasional sharp cheer that rippled across the grandstands like a wave.

For most people, it was electric.

For Marnie, it was usually electric.

But today... today, it was suffocating.

She stook just off to the side of the paddock entrance, oversized sunglasses shielding her eyes despite the soft spring light filtering through the clouds. The sky hung pale and hazy above Suzuka Circuit, the iconic figure-eight track stretching somewhere beyond the buildings and barriers in a way she knew by heart but couldn't bring herself to think about too closely.

Her outfit was effortless in the way that took far too much thought – a loose white baby tee and a pair of low rise jeans. A thin gold chain rested at her collarbone, subtle and familiar. On anyone else, it might have looked relaxed.