Something is clearly different in the breeze.
Metaphorically and literally.
The cold Antipolo breeze is wafting into the house that Dan and Leo moved into. With a new "brand new bargain" couch sitting in the middle of the living room, Leo lounging into the flush throws, Dan breathes into the cold December air. Two weeks working with Horizon, with Axel. All those overtime and weekends she purged to get things moving, paid off. Paid off well.
The week is coming in fast, her week is going to be tough. Leo's school is now out for the Yuletide season until the first week of January. She can use this time to work on everything else that she couldn't, she is determined to be the best in what she does. With the holiday season, Leo is bound to get a gift. Since the little child doesn't really like the pink girly toys, she planned to get her a bike as the house they moved in did have a garage and wide enough garden Ellenore can now use a bike. She has already divided her earnings for next month's rent and utilities, and holiday expenses with nothing for her.
The next day came and greeted her well, an urgent meeting came in from Axel.
From: DosAFJdeLara@horizonholdings.es
To: danielle.reyes@horizonops.ph
Subject: Tools and Resources
Danielle,
Per our recent performance review and the operational turnaround you've executed, the following provisions have been approved, effective immediately:
Work Device: Authorization granted to purchase a MacBook (full specifications) and iPad Pro (2024). Use your discretion on configuration.
Mobile Device: iPhone 15 Pro Max under a postpaid plan of your choice. Ensure the network supports your location.
Utilities: Monthly allowance allocated for electricity and internet expenses.
Procurement is under your name. Details to be routed through Finance, no further approvals needed.
Coordinate with Nadia for procurement proceedings and delivery.
She reread the email again, slower this time. Then a third time—this one in fragments.
MacBook, IPad… discretion on configuration… iPhone 15 Pro Max… utilities allowance…
Her eyes trailed back to the bottom. Procurement under your name. No further approvals needed.
She closed her laptop and sat back into the sofa, her body sinking into the lumpy cushion that pretended to be luxurious. Leo was outside, wobbling on her new bike with training wheels, yelling something about "princess power" while trying to ride up the ramp.
Danielle pressed a palm against her forehead.
Is this normal?
She'd never been rewarded like this before. Not in her last job. Not in construction. Not even when she caught a vendor trying to defraud the company out of six digits' worth of materials. Back then, all she got was a "good catch" in an email and an extra site shift.
But this?
"That's it, just a reward!" convincing herself.
But as soon as she was about to type in a response, her mind went black. Numerical cost of the items listed on the letter was running in her mind, faster than she could type:
MacBook Pro, full specs? That's at least ₱280,000.
13-inch iPad Pro 1TB? ₱140,000
iPhone 15 Pro Max postpaid, probably the ₱3,999/month plan. Over 24 months? ₱95,976.
PLDT Fiber internet at home: ₱3,000.
Electricity? ₱5,000 average, especially now with the new aircon.
She blinked, her head pulsing from the math. Over ₱528,000 worth of tech and utilities, just like that. No back and forth. No approvals. No haggle. No begging. Just—given.
"What the hell…" she whispered, leaning back in her chair. "Is this what it feels like to be... trusted?"
Her fingers hovered over the keyboard again, unsure if she should thank him, question him, or just quietly obey.
She rubbed her temples and muttered, "Tang inang yan, ano to? Blessing ba ni Lord o trap ni Satanas?"
Her stomach tightened. The last time she received something this big out of nowhere, it was from her ex, right before he ghosted her and took the last of her savings.
Calm down, Danielle. This isn't that.
Still, her fingers hesitated over the keyboard. The cursor blinked on a blank reply window, waiting.
"You okay, Mama?"
Danielle looked up to see Leo at the screen door, cheeks flushed, hair tangled, helmet slightly crooked.
"Yeah, anak. Just reading work stuff."
"You look weird. You're doing that thing with your eyebrow again."
Danielle chuckled, reaching for her daughter's hand.
"Come here. Let's rest for a bit."
They sat together on the couch, Leo curled up beside her with a glass of cold Milo. Danielle turned the TV on, some cheesy Christmas rom-com playing in the background. She wasn't really watching.
Her mind was still reeling.
This wasn't a gift. It was trust. Investment. Maybe a test. Maybe all of the above.
She recalled Axel's face from their last call. That ever-neutral tone. The way he dissected every answer she gave, not to belittle, but to assess. He wasn't the kind of man to throw lavish rewards for fun. He did things with reason.
Still… why does it feel like there's a catch?
Later that night, she sat in her room, the lights dim, Leo asleep beside her, hugging a pillow instead of Danielle for once.
She opened her email again. Re-read Axel's message. It was short, clinical, almost cold. And yet, beneath the precise bullet points and crisp lines, she could sense something else.
Clearance.
Permission.
Expectation.
This wasn't just a reward. This was a challenge.
She opened the reply window again. Typed. Deleted. Typed again.
Then finally, she hit send.
Subject: Re: Tools and Resources
Hi Axel,
Thank you for the details. I'll proceed with procurement this week and coordinate with Nadia as advised.
One quick question though—
Is this my separation pay?
—Dan
She hit send and immediately shut her laptop.
Too blunt? Too sarcastic? Too real?
She didn't care.
If this was the game, she'd rather play it on her terms.
The next morning, she woke up to an alert from her email.
Her heart skipped.
She opened it.
From: DosAFJdeLara@horizonholdings.es
Subject: Re: Tools and Resources
If it was, you'd be receiving double.
She stared at the screen, unsure whether to laugh or panic.
Was that a joke? A warning? A flex?
Then a second email followed.
From: Nadia.Llorente@horizonholdings.es
Subject: Procurement Coordination
Hi Danielle,
Just looping in here. Let me know once you've picked your specs and telco provider. Finance has already been notified. Car details to follow—pending region confirmation.
Danielle leaned back and stared at the ceiling.
Nadia is Axel's head of finance. She's included in Axel's inner circle, much like Caden.
So it was real.
This was real.
Her eyes darted to the side, where her worn-out laptop hummed quietly beside a cup of now-cold coffee. The same machine that had gotten her through five job transitions, three project collapses, and a global pandemic.
You've served me well, friend. But it's time.
She stood up, stretched, and walked to the window. Outside, the early morning mist was still clinging to the garden grass. Leo's bike lay sideways on the driveway. A bird perched on the terrace railing, watching her.
Something inside her stilled. Not from fear, or doubt—but from realization.
She wasn't surviving anymore.
She was evolving.
She was part of something now. Something that didn't just use her. Something that trusted her to build.
And she would.
But she'd do it her way.
Brick by brick. Piece by piece.
The wind blew harder that evening, tousling the curtains in her small but decent living room. Danielle padded barefoot on the tiled floor, wearing an oversized shirt that had long faded from black to charcoal. The new TV — a reward from her latest 13th-month bonus, secondhand but big enough to make Leo giggle — blasted Chocolate Factory's "Simple Lang" loud enough to hum through the walls.
She wasn't trying to be rude to the neighbors, but she needed this. Her head had been too loud all day, and now, this was her defiance. Her way of telling herself: You are not drowning.
In the kitchen, a small pot was boiling. Chunks of chicken thigh marinated in calamansi and soy sauce were simmering gently beside a bowl of leftover spaghetti from Leo's early Christmas party. Danielle chopped garlic with focus, the beat syncing with the rhythmic thuk-thuk-thuk of her knife against the wood.
She had been gifted a life upgrade, and it felt… foreign.
The thought of the MacBook, the iPhone 16 Pro Max, still stung a little. Nadia had said it would be delivered before the holidays hit — Wednesday, she'd mentioned. But for now, Danielle had to focus on what she could control. And that was dinner.
She wasn't about to let those gadgets consume her thoughts. Is this part of the job? Or is this the beginning of a cage with gold-plated bars?
Still, she needed to finish dinner. Leo's tummy didn't care for existential dread.
Danielle scooped the rice from the cooker and prepared two plates. She called out, "Leo, hugasan mo na kamay mo ha! Kain na tayo."
From the living room came the classic reply: "Poootaaatooo—nayyy, wait lang Mama, I'm watching something!"
Danielle chuckled. She definitely gets that tone from me.
While they ate, the TV continued playing Filo reggae — "Your Love" came next, and Danielle swayed a bit in her seat, a forkful of rice and adobo halfway to her mouth. Her eyes drifted to the unopened spot on the counter where the tech would eventually be. The anticipation gnawed at her, but for now, the slow comfort of the present — of this meal, of Leo — was enough.
They're not just giving me tools, she realized. They're investing in me. Or they're trapping me. Or both.
She was still thinking about the email when Leo had gone to bed, arms flung dramatically over her face, mumbling something about wishing Santa brings her a "Lego Minecraft house with a girl skin." Danielle had just smiled and kissed her forehead.
Now alone, her phone buzzed softly. Another email from Axel — no subject, no fluff, just a one-liner.
Let me know if Nadia's following through, we don't want delays.
She stared at it for a minute before responding.
Is this my separation pay?
There was no immediate reply, but she imagined Axel reading it, letting out a quiet laugh. He always did enjoy her sarcasm more than her spreadsheets.
She shut her laptop and exhaled, her mind briefly quiet before she stood up and turned the burner off. She wasn't ready for the tech yet, wasn't ready for that next phase. She needed to be prepared. But for now, she could savor the simplicity of a decent meal, the reggae in the background, and a little quiet before the storm.
Elsewhere, in Madrid — where it was barely 3 p.m. — Axel was leaning against the edge of a marble counter inside the Horizon Holdings HQ.
"What's with the smirk?" Caden asked, not bothering to look up from the tablet he was reviewing.
Axel didn't answer right away. He was rereading Danielle's response on his own phone. "Is this my separation pay?" The woman really didn't waste time.
"She thinks we're letting her go."
Caden finally looked up. "She's not stupid. She knows how companies work — you reward people only when you're about to milk them harder or cut them loose."
Axel gave a wry chuckle. "We're rewarding her because she's been clocking in four hours ahead of everyone else for the past months. Even when no one's watching. Even when we said not to."
Caden nodded. "That's loyalty you don't buy. That's belief. We owe her more than just an allowance."
Axel's fingers tapped a slow rhythm on the counter. "We give her tools. She builds an empire. She builds it quietly, while feeding a kid and boiling adobo. She won't fail."
Back in Antipolo, Danielle had just finished cleaning the dishes. The internet was running fast enough, and her mind kept bouncing between thoughts of Leo's Christmas gifts and the email she had just sent.
The tech would arrive soon. Nadia had said so, and Danielle had even managed to take a quick peek at the bank transaction. It was coming. And as it got closer, so did the weight of that decision.
For now, she just sat on the couch with her phone in hand, waiting. The tech, the car, everything was about to change, but until then, all she could do was focus on one thing.
They may have handed me tools, she thought, but the vision? That was always mine.