Chapter 70 Becoming Elena

• (POV: Isabela – Now Elena)
• The vow I made in that grimy motel room – Trust no one. Rely on nothing but yourself, Elena – echoed in my head. Isabela Montoya was dead. Or at least, she had to be. If Mateo Castillo was hunting her, then staying Isabela, even with changed hair and clothes, was a death sentence. I needed to become someone else. Completely. Not just a disguise. A new person. Elena.
• But Elena needed papers. Even bad ones. Some kind of official-looking ID to get further away, to rent a room, to simply exist without drawing immediate attention. Money meant something to Camila once, now it slips away quicker each day. That old phone she handed me? Still powers on, sure. Yet tapping its screen for more than that single warning feels like inviting trouble. Signals leave footprints - each ring, each ping could point someone straight here.