Chapter 426
Could it be that the old man had other provisions in his will?
Joanna stood at the door, thinking hard. Was Sebastian’s refusal to divorce really because of that agreement?
She had never heard anything about an agreement before.
Joanna went into the adjacent room. The moment she stepped inside, she got a call from Nora.
“Hello?”
“It’s bad. Our company has been reported for tax evasion. Last year’s books don’t match the digital ledgers-there’s a two-hundred-million-dollar discrepancy. And the investigators showed up late at night, which seems very strange.”
Joanna was furious. “How could this happen? We haven’t been evading taxes!”
She knew how serious tax evasion was. If someone used this against her, all her previous efforts would be for nothing.
Nora was frantic. “I don’t know what’s going on either. I’m still at the office. I went to the finance department as soon as I got the call and confirmed it. A two-hundred- million tax evasion. If we can’t find evidence to clear our name, we’ll have to pay it back.”
Joanna froze, her face darkening. She pressed her lips together, her expression turning vicious. “Nora, we wouldn’t evade taxes, but the finance manager might have cooked the books. Investigate this immediately. Get help if you need to.”
Nora replied, “Right away.”
Joanna hung up, recalling Natalie’s promise to pay her back a hundredfold. Could it have been Natalie?
Impossible. How could Natalie have pulled this off in just a few minutes?
After washing her feet, Natalie lay in bed playing on her phone.
Soon, a message from Marshall came in.
[Natalie, it worked. You were right to be thorough. We looked into the finance manager, and sure enough, there was a problem. The manager has already fled, and the authorities have launched an investigation.]
Natalie smiled as she read the message. She remembered correctly; in her past life, she had seen Nora by Joanna’s side.
[Marshall, have your people tail Nora. We’ll soon find out if that company really belongs to Joanna.]
[Got it, Natalie You get some rest and leave the rest to me. Whether it’s Joanna’s company or not, Nora stole several of my contracts using
underhanded means I’m going get my revenge fata
secretly plant someone in my company, I can make her company disappear just as quietly. She broke my heart, so I’ll give her a real headache.]
Natalie smiled. This was the little tyrant she knew from her past life.
Natalie also saw a message from Susan, confirming she’d made it back to the hotel safely.
Relieved, she rested for a bit before going back to her room to work on her designs.
…
Meanwhile, Joanna was in a complete panic.
She soon got another call from Nora. The manager had fled, and she had to cover the two-hundred-million-dollar shortfall.
The authorities were investigating. The company itself was clean, and if they could catch the finance manager, the two hundred million could be recovered. The key problem, however, was having the money on hand.
In the middle of the night, the police
caught the manager, and Joanna finally learned the truth. A few
months ago, the manager had
gotten addicted to gambling and racked up eighty million in debt. With compounding interest, it quickly ballooned to over a hundred million. To pay it off, he had embezzled the company’s tax funds.
Her company only had two hundred million in liquid capital, part of which she had secretly funneled from Wendy’s company. Joanna was so furiousshe couldn’t sleep all night. Only a few tens of millions, millions had been recovered, and now she had to find a way to pay the back taxes. Without money, how could she possibly sleep?