Chapter 67 Truth In The Shadows

• (POV: Isabela – 'Elena')
• A coughing noise came from under the hood - then silence. Fifty miles from Miami, dawn still gray and thin, the pickup gave up. Dust curled around its tires. I sat there. After everything at the wedding, after seeing through Mateo’s lies, my skin felt too tight, yet my thoughts moved slow. Cold, maybe. Not fear. Something quieter. I just took my small backpack, the one with Camila's precious cash, the useless burner phone, and the heavy, hidden dagger, and started walking.
• The first few days, maybe a week – time blurred – were a constant thrum of fear. I was 'Elena' now, a name I’d picked randomly, a ghost without a past. Every face I passed felt like a potential watcher, every police car a direct threat. That money from Camila stretched further than expected. Bus rides carried me through towns without names, one after another. Motel walls absorbed silence, thick with old cigarette air and quiet suffering. Meals came from convenience stores - dry bread, limp fillings. A chipped blade hacked at my hair until it fell uneven. Brown goop from a discount bottle dulled its shine. Secondhand shops offered bulky hoods, faded denim, things nobody would remember. Anything to make Isabela Montoya disappear. To make Elena anonymous.