American Tax Officer

Meanwhile, in the CEO office of GCO Headquarters, Long Beach District, Los Angeles, Caroline's eyebrows raised upon hearing this.

She was no fool and naturally understood that David was preparing to play hardball with her again. After some back and forth, she spoke with a hint of displeasure, "Director David, we GCO have already paid that $80 million very cleanly..."

"Don't talk to me about that!"

Before she could finish, David interrupted, "We discussed this when I was at your headquarters. I don't care about GCO's prisons in other states, but if needed, I will investigate the ones in Nevada State again. You agreed to this at the time, didn't you?"

Now Caroline had nothing to say.

Because, as David said, she had indeed agreed to this condition at the time. It's just that now, being strong-armed again, she was somewhat reluctant to accept it.

After weighing the pros and cons, she finally replied helplessly, "Fine, but I need someone to calculate the amount."

"Okay."

No sooner had David hung up the phone than Adan's rang. He picked it up immediately and after listening to the instructions from the other end of the phone, his expression grew complex, but in the end, he complied, "Yes, yes, I understand. I'll have someone tally it right now."

After the call, Adan glanced at David, then picked up the desk phone, "Pond, have your department immediately check the accounts from the inception of our prison to the present. It's the internal accounts, you understand?"

The accounts of the prison in Elko City, which had been established for over three years, constituted a substantial figure. It took the prison's accounting staff a full two hours before they finally came in and submitted a final data sheet.

After verifying it was correct, Adan picked up the phone and dialed a number to report, "Miss Caroline, the amount our prison failed to report totals $146 million."

"Understood."

Shortly after the two ended their conversation, David's phone rang again.

The caller was none other than Caroline, confirming that she had verified the figure and would quickly arrange to transfer the funds to him. David also provided her with the details of a bank account and address to send the money to.

Lastly, as he prepared to leave, David said to Adan, "Alright, Warden Adan, my task here for today is done. But the illegal income you and your prison staff have acquired, I'm giving you two days to pay it to the Gold Mine District Sub-bureau. Do you understand?"

"Okay..."

As even the company headquarters had already compromised, where could Adan dare to resist? He obediently agreed to it.

...

Long Beach IRS Branch, Los Angeles.

Ever since the GCO tax payment was thawed and transferred into David's account, Bellamy, feeling utterly hopeless, had started to let everything slide.

From yesterday until today, he had been listless, not processing a single case, nor had any tax performance been credited to his account.

At the moment, he was smoking with empty eyes.

Even when Trollope entered, he didn't take notice until the man spoke up, only then did he seem to snap back to reality a bit.

"Chief Tax Officer, our system has just detected that GCO is moving a large sum of money again, and the destination is still Nevada!"

"What?"

Bellamy was stunned, then asked harshly, "It's not going to that David again, is it?"

"I think... it probably is. Maybe the $20 million credited to Brown yesterday made him realize it wasn't safe and that's why he's taking another sum from GCO."

"Dammit, this damned GCO Corporation..."

Bellamy gnashed his teeth, his heart filled with a mix of anger, jealousy, and other complex emotions.

Trollope shrunk back a little and asked, "Chief Tax Officer, shouldn't we do something?"

"What do you think we can still do?"

Trollope had nothing to say in response.

Indeed, if there was anything they could have done, the previous $80 million wouldn't have ended up so easily in David's hands.

And with Ducray now switched sides to David, what could they possibly do?

It seemed they could only watch as GCO's funds were once again diverted into someone else's pocket.

Manhattan Branch, New York.

"Chief Tax Officer, Bright, Osmond's lawyers and accountants are already working on the accounts. It won't be a problem to add another $20 million before the end of the assessment period..."

In theory, adding $20 million would bring Brown's total tax performance to $135 million, enough to surpass David and retake the top spot, but at this moment, he didn't feel much joy.

Because the $20 million from yesterday and the $20 million to follow were only secured after much trouble.

And even with all that accounted for, he would only be surpassing David by a mere $10 million.

Who could guarantee that in the next two days, David wouldn't acquire more significant tax payments?

While he was lost in thought, the office door opened, and an Inspector hurried in and said, "Chief Tax Officer, David has just credited over $44 million."

"What did you say!"

Brown was worried that David would acquire large sums of tax payments in the remaining two days, but he didn't expect it to happen so quickly.

He couldn't concern himself with anything else and immediately turned to work on the computer.

Soon, the tax performance leaderboard jumped up, and David, who previously had a tax performance of $125 million, now showed a total of $169 million.

At that, Brown was completely stunned.