The next morning, Jessica sat by the window of her rented studio in Makati, a cup of coffee gone cold beside her, the cursor blinking against a blank search bar. The hum of the city pressed faintly through the glass, vendors shouting, engines growling, rain threatening but never falling. She should’ve been working on her article draft for Sagada, but instead, she was still digging into the Horizon Foundation.
Hours slipped by. She found glossy press releases, polished mission statements, and cheerful photos of ribbon cuttings. Every piece said the same thing: empowering education, building hope, shaping futures.
All surface. No roots.
The deeper she searched, the cleaner the trail became, as if someone had scrubbed the internet spotless of any trace of where the money truly came from.
