American Tax Officer

"Yes."

Seven or eight minutes later, a stream of GCO Corporation's senior executives filed in, all of them looking perplexed at Caroline, obviously not understanding why they had been so urgently summoned.

"Everyone take a look at this."

Caroline threw the ledger to them, and the executives, not daring to neglect it, all gathered around to flip through it for inspection.

Soon after, their complexions also turned sour, with the executive named Pearson, in particular, angrily scolding, "This is our internal ledger, the Tax Bureau couldn't possibly have gotten hold of it, it must be those bastards from Rio City Prison who leaked it, damn it, I'm going to call them right now!"

"The Tax Bureau actually got their hands on this ledger of ours, we're in a bit of trouble now..."

"What are those idiots in Rio City doing, how could they leak our secrets, they deserve to die!"

"..."

The rest of the executives also started to curse and rant.

Five or six minutes later, the executive named Pearson hung up the phone and burst out cursing, "Yes, indeed, it was those damned fools who leaked the ledger!"

Caroline turned and asked, "Why would they do such a thing?"

"According to them, they were coerced by a Chief Tax Officer named David, the bastards!"

"David?"

This was the second time Caroline had heard this name following Hugo earlier, and it made her realize that this person from the Tax Bureau named David was not simple; she immediately picked up the phone, "Find me information on a Chief Tax Officer named David from the Tax Bureau, and send the details to my office as soon as possible."

GCO, as one of the top three private prison corporations in America, had quite influential channels. Quickly, a report on David was delivered to Caroline's office.

But when they checked David's information, everyone was stunned.

On January 28th, accompanied by armed Tax Bureau agents, he entered the Las Vegas Indian Tribe to enforce the law, collecting over 15 million in taxes.

On February 10th, he went to Sparks to enforce the law, sent the local Deputy Mayor and Police Chief to prison, sentencing them to a millennium in prison, the ultimate penalty.

On February 12th, he went to Henderson City to enforce the law, sending the City Manager and Deputy Mayor there into prison, again sentencing them to a millennium, the ultimate penalty.

Beyond that, David was also currently the most likely candidate in the Tax Bureau's god-making project; if elected, his future would be limitless.

When the hell did the Tax Bureau come out with such an aggressive person?

Even Bellamy Hattie, who is currently revered in the Long Beach District as the 'Tax Evasion Nemesis,' doesn't have such impressive accomplishments!

Now everyone had some sympathy for the management at Rio City Prison; no wonder they claimed to have handed over the ledger under duress!

"I was wondering why his name sounded so familiar, turns out he's the Tax Bureau Chief Tax Officer who led armed forces into the Indian Tribe and made the headlines a while back."

By now, many of the GCO senior executives present finally remembered such an incident and began to recall the person, David.

"If it's him, then this guy is not easy to deal with, this might be tricky..."

"No matter how difficult he is, we definitely can't hand over the ledger, the money is a small matter, but if we set this precedent, and Tax Bureaus in each state follow suit, we'll definitely go bankrupt!"

"Matteo is right, it's like opening Pandora's Box, once opened, it will bring endless trouble to our GCO Corporation..."

"..."

Caroline had no patience to listen to the executives' remarks anymore and directly interrupted, "If he publishes this ledger, our company will also be plunged into a huge turmoil, so what do you suggest we do?"

"Miss Caroline, why don't we meet with him and talk first, see his stance before making decisions, it's not too late."

Caroline thought about it and finally nodded in agreement, "Then have him come over for a talk."

Ten minutes later, David and his group were brought in.

Pearson, pretending to be nonchalant, said, "Good to meet you, Director David, I am Pearson, the vice president of GCO, this is our CEO Caroline, this is..."

After the introductions were over, he spoke again, "Director David, I'll get straight to the point. The ledger in your hands is very important to us, can you 'return' it to us? Of course, we won't let you come for nothing, as long as you're willing to 'return' it, you can name your price!"

David sat down, emotionless, and responded, "I could return it to you, just pay the taxes according to the funds on the ledger, and I will turn around and leave right away."

Upon hearing this, Pearson and the others immediately looked dismayed.

They had asked David to come and talk precisely because they wanted to retrieve the ledger without having to file taxes.

How could David not seem to understand?

"Director David, to put it frankly, if we really accounted for this money as you said and paid the taxes on it, it would greatly impact our company, and we're afraid we can't do that!"

"I didn't come here to negotiate with you. Whether you can do it or not, you have to do it!"

David's domineering words instantly ignited fury among the present GCO executives.

GCO Corporation, after all, was an industry giant and had close cooperation with the FBI and DEA, as well as various law enforcement agencies, whose high-ranking officers treated them with respect. When had anyone dared to be so rude to them?

If it had been a high-ranking officer of the Tax Bureau, that might have been one thing, but even with all his impressive feats, David was still just a lowly Chief Tax Officer.