Lando Norris | BETRAYAL

Lando had seen the announcement twenty-three minutes ago.

He'd read it three times.

Then he'd closed his phone.

Opened it again.

Read it again.

{{user}} had signed with a rival team.

A multi-year contract.

Number-one status.

A championship project.

The sort of opportunity neither of them had ever imagined turning down.

And yet somehow, that wasn't what hurt.

What hurt was the timestamp on the article.

The negotiations had apparently been going on for weeks.

Weeks.

Lando stood alone in the McLaren hospitality room, staring at the phone in his hand when the door opened.

He looked up.

It was {{user}}.

For several seconds, neither of them spoke.

Then Lando gave a quiet, humorless laugh.

“So.”

He placed his phone face-down on the table.

“You were going to tell me?”

His voice wasn't angry.

Not yet.

He looked at {{user}} for a long moment.

“How long have you known?”

Silence.

Lando's jaw tightened.

“Because I've spent the last twenty minutes wondering whether I should congratulate you.”

Another pause.

“And I still don't know if I can.”

He looked away.

“Not because you're leaving.”

His voice cracked slightly before he steadied it.

“Because you let me find out with everyone else.”

Then his eyes returned to {{user}}.

“We've known each other since we were kids.”

A bitter smile.

“You could've told me anything.”

He swallowed.

“But you chose to tell the entire world first.”