The Shadow Tycoon
Copyright© 2026 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 48: Calm Water, Hidden Fear
Inside the room, Mr. Fox’s face was as still as deep water.
On the surface, he looked little different from a moment ago, but only he knew that his scalp was tingling in waves.
People loved making jokes about the IRS. They said that if you crossed the IRS, they would leave you too poor to afford a pair of pants. Very few people joked about the Federation FBI.
It was not because the FBI lacked material for jokes, nor because they never made mistakes. Quite the opposite. Every year, the FBI was involved in plenty of enforcement disputes and even accidents, yet almost nobody discussed them openly.
Everyone understood the reason. The IRS might make your life a living hell. The FBI would simply kill you. As a result, very few people spent their days publicly complaining about them.
The moment the man identified himself, Mr. Fox’s legs almost stopped working.
He stared at him for a long moment.
His son and his subordinates recovered from their shock. Seeing Mr. Fox holding the FBI agent’s gaze, they seemed to find a pillar to lean on, a source of courage, and began glaring back defiantly.
Only Mr. Fox knew the truth.
He needed a moment to steady himself. Otherwise, the weakness in his legs might have sent him straight to his knees.
After a while, he took a deep breath, nodded, and said, “Fine.”
He turned and sat down.
“Then let’s hear why you think I won’t be able to stay on my feet.”
It was a beautiful performance. Even Mr. Fox’s son thought it was one of the defining moments of his father’s life.
Only Mr. Fox himself knew that his heart was already doing a hundred and eighty.
The Special Agent maintained his smile throughout. It was the smile of a confident man.
He raised an eyebrow, curled his lips into an expression of regret, and said, “You’re absolutely not going to like what comes next...”
He paused.
“The Federation FBI has been watching you for quite some time.”
In the adjacent room, one of the IRS agents glanced sideways at the Special Agent sitting next to him.
The FBI man gave him a smile that never reached his eyes.
That statement contained a problem.
The problem lay in who got credit.
Even ordinary people experienced conflicts and rivalries. Institutions at the very top were no different.
The Federation FBI and the IRS operated in different spheres, yet their authorities and responsibilities overlapped in certain areas.
Take the FBI’s Financial Crimes Division. They investigated financial crimes.
Unfortunately, financial crimes often came bundled together with tax evasion.
Criminals hid accounts to avoid detection. Once accounts were hidden, tax evasion naturally followed.
So the two agencies inevitably stepped on each other’s toes. The conflict was never obvious, but neither was it completely concealed.
With a single sentence, the Financial Crimes Division agent had claimed all the credit for the operation.
These recordings would eventually appear in court, perhaps even in front of the media.
That one line, “We’ve been watching you for quite some time,” was enough to establish the FBI’s foresight in the public eye.
It implied that the FBI had long ago discovered Fox’s money-laundering activities, but had not yet gathered enough evidence. Then the foolish IRS had blundered in and nearly ruined everything.
Fortunately, the FBI had stepped in at the critical moment, turned the situation around, earned itself a little glory, and casually stepped on the IRS in the process.
Under normal circumstances, the IRS would certainly have found a way to hit back.
Unfortunately, they were already covered in their own problems.
For now, solving the immediate crisis mattered most. There would be plenty of opportunities to settle scores later.
Mr. Fox remained silent, as though he had heard nothing.
His mind spun furiously.
How had a small-time finance company like his attracted the attention of the Federation FBI?
Did they really have nothing better to do?
The agent, however, had no intention of waiting for a response.
Instead, he accelerated his pace.
When information exceeded a person’s processing capacity in a short period of time, confusion inevitably followed. People misspoke. They revealed things they should not.
“Beginning last month, we noticed that your business activity became significantly more active, and the speed of your money laundering increased as well...”
Last month, in reality, meant little more than ten days ago.
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