BXBX NOVEL Chapter 119 Payments
Arriving at the building in which there was an abandoned arcade that Karim and his unit hung around in, as well as the ragtag office that Zack and his unit worked out of, Xavier headed upstairs. He had messaged Zack, who had taken the week off school, as well as Rachel and Eddie, to meet him there. To his surprise, he found that they had all arrived before him. And, despite calling them over on short notice, it seemed as though they would have shown up anyway.
Hard at work, they impressed Xavier with how diligent all 3 of them were, but there did seem to be one issue.
Eddie and Zack focused intently on the work they were doing. They were enthralled by what they were working on. However, Rachel, on the other hand, was hovering around the office and doing things that she didn\'t seem to enjoy.
"I\'m an accountant, for god\'s sake! Why am I doing all of this random shit and researching the city when there isn\'t even any money to work with?!" blurted out Rachel, clearly losing her temper and on the verge of storming out.
However, Xavier who had been observing them for a while, smiled to himself, knowing he had the solution to the problem she was facing.
"Money you said?"
Nodding her head while looking at Xavier as if he was stupid for asking such a foolish question, she didn\'t expect him to do what he did next...
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Walking to the middle of the office, where there was a little bit of open space for them to move around in, Xavier opened the duffel bag he was carrying and poured out its contents onto the ground. Immediately after he did, Rachel, who had been in the middle of a tantrum, sprung up and rushed over to him, before asking Xavier frantically, "Is, is, is all of this real?"
Xavier could almost see dollar signs in her eyes, and she was so excited that she reminded Xavier of a child on their birthday.
But one thing irked him.
"Why does everyone keep asking if it\'s real? Of course, it is. Do you think I\'d show up with fake money?"
Hearing that, Zack and Eddie could no longer sit still, despite how immersed they were in the work they were doing. And when they saw what had startled Rachel, they were stunned.
How could they not be amazed at how much money there was on the ground?
It was the most money any of them had ever seen at once, and for it to be in cash put just how much it was into perspective. However, seeing how nonchalant Xavier was about it and that he was serious, the 3 of them also regained their composure, including Rachel. She, who was previously on the verge of drooling while looking at the money before her, was visibly elated and couldn\'t wait to start working with it.
"Just how much is here?" asked Rachel, taking the lead on the questioning.
"Over half a million. The other half I left somewhere else for when I need to buy some things."
"The other half?! Do you mean to tell me you earned over a million dollars in the span of a few days? Where did you leave the other half? And what on earth are you planning to spend over half a million on?" she inquired, amazed by Xavier\'s revelations.
If Eddie and Rachel had any doubts left about Xavier, they had all disappeared after seeing that he managed to keep his word and generate so much money in a short period. However, it seemed as though Rachel had forgotten her place and Eddie and Zack had noticed the slight annoyance on Xavier\'s face.
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"Rachel, I\'ll say this only once, so listen carefully. The money here is mine and I don\'t need to report anything to you. And even if it wasn\'t mine, I am still the boss of the Outlaw Gang. I respect and care for all those who decide to work with me, but don\'t overstep your boundaries," he warned her calmly but imposingly.
Stuttering and struggling to get her words out, she apologised and said that she had gotten over-excited.
And immediately after she did so, Xavier eased up and was glad that she could be docile when she needed to be. But he also apologised for overreacting and admitted that he couldn\'t expect anything less from the passionate and wild accountant that he decided to recruit.
With that, any lingering emotions were thrown out of the window, showing just how adept Xavier was at dealing with and handling people. In less than a minute, he managed to scold and show compassion to Rachel, who was both charmed and intimidated by his blaring blue eyes. Then he jumped right into business and didn\'t give them any time to go over what had just happened.
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"You asked where I left the other half. I left it with Achara, one of the other unit leaders. I\'m telling you this because I trust the 3 of you, and know that even if you wanted to, it would be impossible to steal the money anyway. She\'d take the 3 of you down without even batting an eyelid."
"As for what I\'m planning on using that half for, there are a lot of things. Namely guns, knives, 3 vans, a warehouse and a motorcycle. If I can even afford all of that with the money that I left with Achara."
The 3 of them were gobsmacked, and Xavier couldn\'t help but be disappointed in them after seeing their reactions.
"What did you think I was intending to spend the money on? I\'m running a gang. We would obviously need such things. And I didn\'t want to tell you off that bat to try to keep the 3 of you away from that side of things as much as I can."
As they nodded their heads and started to understand Xavier\'s intentions, they began to think about things internally. Then, after taking a moment, Eddie and Rachel reported back to Xavier what had come to mind.
Rachel was the first to speak, but this time more respectfully.
"I would assume this half is for paying those in the gang and also funding the 5 units that you have. Just us alone will need quite a lot of money to fix up this office and purchase anything that we need. So I can imagine that the other units would need the same or even more. But that would still leave some money left over, which I assume you want us to launder using various methods and save. We can consider it the Outlaw Gang\'s fund."
As she spoke, Xavier nodded his head, confirming most of what she had thought up. Eddie then spoke up about what he had understood.
"I assume generating this much money was a one-off thing, so we\'ll still need to look for other methods of earning money, other than plundering other gangs, which I\'m sure you\'ve already considered. But on the legal side of things, it\'ll be difficult when it comes to taking ownership of other gangs\' belongings. I\'ve also come across a few obstacles with the official employment of your members, and so have decided that it would be more effective if they were all enlisted as self-employed. Some as builders, others as taxi drivers and so on. This way, Rachel and I would find it easier to sort out their taxes if they wish to be regarded as officially employed."
Xavier took a moment to digest all that both of them had said, before summarising what he wanted to be done.
"Everyone in the Outlaw Gang needs to be paid 1000 a week, which I know will drain the fund but is necessary. You all have commitments and loved ones to take care of, and for the time being, pay me and the other unit leaders the same amount. Once the Outlaw Gang is more established, the pay can increase and there will be differences in the amount different members receive."
"Set up recurring payments for the next month, so that\'ll be 4000 dollars for every member. As for those in Karim\'s unit, other than Karim himself, give them half of that, since there are a lot of them and they are still young."
Taking a split second to make some calculations, Rachel then blurted out how much that would all be.
"5 in each of the 3 combat units for 1 month would be 60,000. Our unit here would add another 12,000. Then that would leave Karim\'s unit. Karim will get 1000 a week, just like you decided. As for the 6 youths under him, they\'ll each get 500 a week. In total, that unit will be paid 16,000. Altogether, this month there will be 92,000, including the 4000 you are going to be paid."
Nodding his head, already having calculated that number before arriving, Xavier was impressed by how quickly she had worked that all out. Even Zack seemed to have worked it out just as fast. Meanwhile, Eddie didn\'t even bother trying, since math was never really his strong suit.
"That\'s fine with me on the payment side, and I\'ll leave it to the 3 of you to sort out the distribution of money. I\'ll give you some time to launder the money to distribute it to those that wish for it to be deposited into their bank accounts. Pay those that wish to be paid in cash on the same day, so that we pay everyone at the same time."
"In that time, you\'ll need to get in touch with every other member and ask them about their preferences. I\'m sure you have all the basic information from Zack, and you can get any other private information needed to pay them directly from the members."
"Would you like me to tell them to come in person?" asked Xavier, giving them an opportunity to get to know the other members.
Zack had already integrated with everyone pretty well, but Eddie and Rachel had only met Karim and his friends so far. They couldn\'t base all their views on the members of the Outlaw Gang on the records that Zack had produced.
But despite their resistance, Xavier received an unexpected answer, and it came from Rachel, of all people.