The Shadow Tycoon
Copyright© 2026 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 22: Vera Accepts the Offer
After Vera accepted the employment request, she quickly began gathering her things and left with William. In truth, there was not much to gather, only some office supplies, such as rulers, erasers, various pens, and the tools needed for bookkeeping.
Before William hired her, she had been working here by the hour. That sounded cheap, and in reality, it was. When the law firm had work that needed doing, they would notify her, and only then would she come in and begin working. The amount she could earn each month was not much.
Most law firms used the method of “training newcomers” to reduce costs and increase revenue. Accountants like Vera, who had already worked for some time, were usually only responsible for final review, and that process did not take long.
The real long-term work was handed to newcomers. Because of that, the law firm did not need to issue a high wage, which saved the firm a great deal of money.
When William brought Vera back to the warehouse, Richard and the other two men had already been waiting there for a while. Each of them carried a huge backpack and looked as if they were under considerable strain.
“You’re finally here, boss...” Richard let out a breath of relief. To be honest, carrying more than a thousand dollars on one’s back was not easy work. But if he put it on the ground ... that did not feel safe either.
Public order in Sabine City was limited to the downtown area. Outside downtown, there were not as many patrolmen or mounted police. If something happened, it would be very difficult for the police to arrive in time.
The Warehouse District was exactly that kind of place. If the three of them had not been standing together, and if there had been only one person here, they might already have left first.
William nodded, opened the side door of the warehouse, and turned on all the lights. As he walked toward the office, he introduced Vera to everyone.
It had to be said, with an accountant like her present, the uneasy hearts of Richard and the other two men settled somewhat. At the very least, a shell company would not think of hiring a full-time accountant.
At the same time, William also explained their current main business to Vera: change-exchange services.
“My salesmen collect change from outside and deliver it to me. Then other companies or individuals exchange change from me at a certain ratio. I earn the spread in between. That is my main business for now...”
Vera listened carefully, because this would be her work for the next major period of time. William continued, “You don’t need to worry about my tax issues. You know...” He looked around the extremely shabby office and said with a faint smile, “City Hall encourages micro-firms like ours to start businesses and exempts us from taxation. We only need to make complete declarations. We don’t need tax avoidance.”
In truth, there was no such thing in this world as legal tax avoidance and illegal tax avoidance. In the end, they were all acts of tax evasion. Since none of them were legal acts, why were some cases of tax evasion prosecuted while others were not?
It was actually very simple. Those who were prosecuted had methods that were too crude. The accountants they hired were not professional enough, and they themselves were not cautious enough. Add in the normal operation of the Federation tax system, and they were bound to fall into it.
As for those who were not prosecuted, no one knew how much money they had spent on tax evasion, how many joints they had greased in order to dodge part of their taxation, and that was not to mention certain people who even pushed changes in local law to evade taxes smoothly.
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