Cut Out, Cashed In

On International Women's Day, I spent twelve hours straight in a live stream, selling $5 million worth of product. When it came time to settle my commission, my aunt and boss, Sandra Holt, quietly transferred my $400,000 cut into her own account and handed me $500, labeled as a meal stipend. She took my hand with a warm, motherly smile. "Sweetheart, you're still an intern. Taking that much money at your age would hurt your career development. Let me hold onto it for you. Put it toward a car someday." I looked at the sharp calculation behind her kind eyes. I didn't argue. I took the money without a word. That night, I deleted my account and vanished, taking my entire product-sourcing system with me. The next morning, Aunt Sandra stared at a live stream with ten viewers and finally started blowing up my phone. Chapter 1 I was jolted awake by someone hammering on my door. "Lexi Harmon, who do you think you are? You had your phone off?" Sandra Holt shoved her way in and got right in my face. "Why didn't you go live last night? Do you have any idea how much money you cost us? 500 pre-orders—all refunded! And now the platform is docking our credibility score and downgrading our ranking!" I leaned against the doorframe and yawned. "Aunt Sandra, didn't you say I was useless? If I'm so useless, what does it matter whether I go live or not? You're so capable. You do it." Wade Holt shoved forward and grabbed me by the collar. "Shut up and get back to the office! My mom went on by herself last night for four hours. Screamed herself hoarse and moved $200 worth of stuff. All your followers were asking where you were. Get on and explain yourself." I knocked his hand away hard, my expression flat. "Explain what? That I busted my ass moving product while Aunt Sandra took my commission to buy you a house and a car?" Aunt Sandra's face stiffened. Her eyes shifted. "That's nonsense. That was normal cash flow for Vivid Stream Media. I'm telling you as your employer, you're coming with me right now. "If you can make up last night's losses today, I'll think about giving you $10,000 at the end of the year as a bonus. Out of the forty." I actually laughed. "$10,000? Aunt Sandra, how generous. What is that, a tip? Doesn't matter though. I already quit." Aunt Sandra went still. Then she smiled, cold and thin. "Quit? And your internship report, you're just throwing that away? Without my signature and stamp, you won't get your degree. Good luck finding a job after that." I reached into my bag, pulled out a second document that was already stamped, and threw it at her. "Sorry. I transferred to a new internship placement. The university already approved it. As for your little company, leave it for your son to run into the ground." Aunt Sandra tore the document apart. Her jaw was tight, her whole face twisted. "Fine. You've got nerve. We're done. We'll rename the account and find someone else to host. I'd like to see the channel die without you." After they left, I unlocked my phone. The Vivid Stream Media group chat had already exploded. Aunt Sandra was tagging me over and over, flooding the thread with venom. [Lexi Harmon is exactly the kind of ungrateful snake everyone needs to watch out for. Stealing core company assets, going AWOL without notice… I've already called my lawyer.] I didn't respond. I left the group. I swapped in a new SIM and started calling my key suppliers, the ones I'd built real relationships with over the past few years. I figured that history counted for something and that they'd flip to my side without much convincing. The reality hit me like ice water. "Hey, it's Lexi, Lexi Harmon. I left Vivid Stream Media. I'm going out on my own, and I still have the full sourcing system—" Chapter 2 On the other end of the line, the supplier laughed it off, his tone breezy and dismissive. "Lexi, sweetheart, Sandra actually just called me. She prepaid the full order for next quarter and threw in an extra 2% on the rebate. "We're all just trying to do business here, you know how it is. You're fresh out of school. Going solo is a big risk. My inventory's tight right now, I can't really supply you at the moment." Three calls. Three polite rejections. I gripped my phone and took a slow breath. Aunt Sandra was shrewder than I'd given her credit for. She knew I had the supplier relationships, so she'd moved fast. She threw money at every one of them and cut off my lifeline before I could even get started. That afternoon, Aunt Sandra posted on social media. It was a photo of Wade sitting in the streaming setup, surrounded by a pile of products she'd selected. The caption read: [New face, big potential. We let our results do the talking.] I clicked into the stream. There were fewer than fifty viewers. The comment section was brutal. [What happened to that girl who always picked the best stuff? Why is there some creepy guy now?] [What is this garbage he's selling? Prices are higher than at the supermarket. Does he think we're idiots?] [I'm out. This stream lost its soul. Unfollowing.] Wade was sweating through his shirt, practically screaming at the camera, "Don't leave, guys! I'll do a talent show! Place an order, and I'll call you 'Daddy'!" He started doing some cringeworthy, vaguely suggestive dance moves in front of the lens. I closed the stream without a second thought. Stunts like that would only accelerate the account's death, but it still wasn't enough. I wanted them to cough up everything they'd taken from me, with interest. Sure enough, less than an hour later, Aunt Sandra called again. Her tone had softened considerably this time and was sickeningly warm. "Lexi, honey, I was just panicking this morning. I said some things I didn't mean. Don't take it to heart. "Wade really isn't cut out for this. He's hopeless on camera. The channel needs you. You're the only one who can hold it together. "We can talk about the commission. I'll transfer $2,000 to you right now to tide you over. Just come back and go live, please. I'm begging you." I laughed, short and cold. "$2,000? Aunt Sandra, save it. Buy Wade some brain supplements. His dancing looked like something was genuinely wrong with him." "Lexi! Don't push your luck!" Aunt Sandra dropped the act instantly, her voice turning vicious. "You just wait. I'm going to your house right now. I'll let your mom and your grandmother sort this out. We'll see how long you can keep up this attitude." Sure enough, Aunt Sandra went to my house. When Mum called me, her voice was shaking, close to tears. "Lexi, come home now. Your aunt is putting on a whole show in front of Grandma, sobbing like she's dying, talking about throwing herself off something. She's saying you stole money from the company and wiped all the stream data. "Grandma's blood pressure is through the roof. She can't even keep her medication down. She's demanding you come home and apologize on your knees." I squeezed the phone so hard my knuckles went white. "Mum, don't believe a word she says. Keep Grandma calm. I'm on my way." By the time I got there, Aunt Sandra was parked in the middle of the sofa, tears streaming, nose running, giving the performance of her life. "Lynn, look at the daughter you raised! I took her in out of the goodness of my heart, gave her an internship, put food on her plate, and on her way out, she stabs me in the back and deletes every single client contact we had! "The company's drowning in penalties now. I can't go on like this. I don't want to live anymore!" Chapter 3 Grandma pressed a hand to her chest, her finger trembling as she pointed at me. "Get on your knees! Apologize to your Aunt Sandra! Do you think she has it easy, making money? You're going to be the death of her!" I looked at Aunt Sandra's face—that smug, wronged-party expression she'd perfected—and felt nothing but contempt. "I stole money? Aunt Sandra, you want to put the books on the table and go through them together? I pulled an all-nighter on International Women's Day and sold $5 million worth of product. $400,000 in commission, and you handed me $500. And I'm the thief?" Mum froze, her face going pale. "How much? $400,000?" Aunt Sandra's eyes darted around the room. She raised her voice, covering for herself. "What $400,000! That was gross revenue! After costs, labor, venue fees, and promotions, there was barely anything left! Lexi, since when do you lie to your elders?" I pulled out my phone, brought up the settlement screenshot from the backend, and held it right in her face. "This is the settlement statement. Net profit, in black and white. Want me to put it on speaker and call platform support to verify?" Aunt Sandra lunged to her feet and grabbed for my phone. "You little brat, who do you think you are!" I stepped back, my eyes sharp. "Who do I think I am? You used my money for a down payment and a car. Where's the house? Where's the car parked? Take Grandma to see them. Let her see what a great son she raised." Grandma went still and looked at Aunt Sandra. "Sandra, where did that money come from?" Sandra stuttered, sweat breaking out on her forehead. "Mum, that… that was money I'd saved up." I pressed forward, not letting up. "You were borrowing money from Mum last year just to cover your insurance payments. Now you've suddenly got a six-figure down payment? Did you win the lottery? "Grandma, she took the money I broke my back to earn and used it to bail Wade out. And now she wants me on my knees apologizing?" Grandma had always favored Sandra's side of the family, but she wasn't stupid. She looked at Sandra, and her voice turned icy. "Sandra. Is what Lexi saying true? You kept the child's earnings?" Aunt Sandra could see she had no way out. She dropped all pretense and went full ugly. "So what if it's true! We're family. Why does everything have to be so calculated? Lexi's going to get married and take it all to some other family anyway. I did this for our bloodline!" Mum shook with fury. She crossed the room and shoved Aunt Sandra back. "Sandra, how can you say something like that? Lexi worked for every cent of that money. What gives you the right to hand it to your son? Get out of my house!" Sandra planted her hands on her hips, absolutely brazen. "Lynn, I'm telling you, Lexi is coming back to Vivid Stream Media today, and she's selling out the rest of that inventory. "If she doesn't, I'll take her to court for misappropriation. She'll have a record hanging over her for the rest of her life. Good luck finding a real job after that." I looked at her and spoke slowly, each word deliberate, my voice completely flat, "Go ahead. File the suit. And bring that eight-percent commission contract with you. "Let the judge decide whether I owe you money, or whether you owe me back wages and damages." Aunt Sandra snapped. She grabbed a glass off the table and hurled it at my head. "Go to hell, you little witch!" Mum yanked me aside. The glass shattered on the floor, shards scattering everywhere. "Get out! Sandra, get out of my house!" Mum grabbed a broom—the first time I'd ever seen her that fierce—and drove them toward the door. Aunt Sandra dragged Wade out with her. At the threshold, she turned back and spat on the floor. Chapter 4 "Lexi, you just wait! I'm hiring people to run the stream around the clock! You're not seeing a single cent!" I pulled out my phone and started reaching out to a few professional streamers I knew, hoping one of them would be willing to go public about what Aunt Sandra had done. Another dead end. The ones who'd called me their girl every other day were suddenly unreachable. "Lexi, this is tricky. The platform's cracking down on that kind of thing. We can't be seen going after each other." Worse, a streamer who went by Candy took my message and screenshotted it straight to Aunt Sandra as a peace offering. Aunt Sandra texted me immediately: [Nice try, sweetheart. You think you can come for me? I've been in this game longer than you. Give it up.] I read the message and took a slow breath. I opened my laptop and pulled up something I'd spent three years building—a viral product prediction model covering the entire platform ecosystem. I sent it directly to Hammer, a mega-streamer with tens of millions of followers, known for his hair-trigger temper and his very public crusades against fraud. [Hammer, I need you to look into someone. Use this model for free for a year. It'll bump your conversion rate by at least thirty percent next quarter.] Ten minutes later, he replied with two words: [Done. Deal.] That evening, Aunt Sandra's stream was in full swing. She'd paid for two cheap models who showed up in barely-there outfits, rambling incoherently through a pitch for knockoff cosmetics. Wade sat off to the side, hammering on the desk. "Order now, everyone! Last hundred units! Get in while you can!" Then Hammer arrived with his entire army. Millions of viewers flooded Aunt Sandra's stream at once. "So this is the stream where the boss pocketed her intern's $400,000 commission and had the nerve to call it saving it for her?" Hammer's voice boomed through the feed. "Truly something else. The owner herself reaching into her own employee's pocket. You really do see everything in this life. "Take a look at these products, folks. Are you going to sell unlabeled garbage face cream? Don't let anyone here get scammed." Aunt Sandra stared at the wall of comments pouring in and went pale. She screamed at the camera, her voice shrill, "Who sent you people? Get out of my stream! Mods! Ban them! Kick them out!" But there were too many. Tens of thousands hit the server at once and blew straight through it. The mods couldn't keep up. The viewer count spiked to a hundred thousand. Not one of them was buying anything. They were all there to watch. [Is that the awful aunt? She looks exactly like what she is.] [$400,000 in commission and you gave her $500? You make the worst bosses in history look generous.] Aunt Sandra was losing it on camera, past the point of caring what she said. "All of you, shut up! How much did Lexi pay you? I'll double it!" The stream exploded. [Funny. A second ago, there was no money for commissions, but now there's enough to pay double?] [Everyone, screenshot this. This is literally evidence of embezzlement.] Aunt Sandra realized what she'd said and slapped a hand over her mouth. Wade panicked beside her and lunged for the controls to kill the stream, and accidentally flipped the camera. The lens swung around and landed on the back room. Products were stacked floor to ceiling with no labels or certifications. A handful of temp workers quietly peeled expiration dates off packaging and pressed on fresh ones. Chapter 5 Hammer's voice exploded through the feed. "What the hell! They're switching labels live on camera? Folks, that's illegal. I've already called the police. Everyone, start recording." Aunt Sandra lunged at her phone like a woman possessed and smashed it face down on the floor. "Kill it! Shut it down now!" The stream went black to the sound of screaming and chaos. Not long after, I got the notification. Vivid Stream Media's channel had been permanently banned by the platform for fraudulent operations, selling counterfeit goods, and causing serious public harm. Wade's new account went down with it as it was flagged under the same verified identity. Aunt Sandra stared at the wreckage of everything she'd spent years building, wiped out in a single night. After midnight, Wade texted me. [Lexi, happy now? You pushed us to the edge. My mom's in the hospital. Acute heart attack, the doctor said. Women like you always get what's coming to them.] I didn't reply. First thing the next morning, Wade called. His voice was cracked, theatrical, and calculating all at once. "Please, I'm begging you. Help my mom. The hospital needs surgery fees upfront—$100,000. I lost all $400,000 gambling on sports. If she doesn't get the surgery, she's going to die. You can't just let that happen." I held the phone and felt nothing. Just a cold, hollow contempt. "You lost it gambling. That's your problem, not mine. Did either of you think about what happened to me when you took my money?" Wade's voice went unhinged on the other end. "Lexi! Do you have any humanity left in you? That's your aunt. You've got money. Just lend it to us. If you don't, I'll show up at your new office and make sure everyone knows what you are." I laughed, short and flat. "Go ahead. While you're at it, tell everyone exactly how your mother helped herself to my commission. As for the surgery, you've still got two working hands. Go donate blood." I hung up and blocked them both. However, I knew Aunt Sandra. She'd clawed her way up from nothing, and women like her didn't quit. Sure enough, by that afternoon, she'd launched her counterattack across social media and every local forum she could find. She posted a photo of herself in a hospital bed, oxygen tubes in, the picture of suffering. The caption: "Driven to this by my own niece. God, are you watching?" Then the supplier I knew as Craig Donovan, whom Aunt Sandra had bought off, published a lengthy post online. The title: The Truth Behind Live-Stream Star Lexi Harmon's Rise: How She Really Built Her Numbers. The post included several blurry screenshots of chat logs, the content explicit—all allegedly discussing exchanges of favors for business deals. There was also a still frame from a surveillance clip, a few seconds long. In it, a woman whose build looked like mine walked into a hotel with an older man, his arm around her. Craig's post was emphatic. [Lexi Harmon knows nothing about product sourcing. Every result she ever got came from trading favors with suppliers like me for below-market pricing. Aunt Sandra docked her pay because she discovered Lexi's conduct was damaging the company's reputation.] It detonated across the internet like a depth charge. Overnight, the story flipped. From cold-hearted niece to streamer who slept her way to the top. The court of public opinion turned on a dime. Chapter 6 I stared at my phone as the abuse piled up in real time, wave after wave of it, and felt something sink all the way to the bottom. 'Aunt Sandra, you really burned every last principle you had just to destroy me.' Within half a day, a crowd had gathered outside my new office building. Freelance content creators, rubberneckers, and hired protesters with signs picketing outside the building. "Lexi Harmon's got no shame! Slept her way up and drove her own aunt to her deathbed!" "Come look, everyone! The face of a saint and the behavior of a gutter rat!" My new boss, Owen Chase, called me into his office, his brow tight, his eyes measuring. "Lexi, what exactly is going on? "This scene outside is doing serious damage to the company's image. The board's position is that you take a leave of absence until the dust settles. If this can't be cleared up, we'll have no choice but to terminate your contract." I stood across from his desk, jaw locked, forcing myself to stay steady. "Give me three days." I held his gaze. "If I can't put the people who fabricated this behind bars in three days, I'll resign voluntarily and cover every cent of the penalty fees." He studied me for a long moment, then nodded. "Three days." I took a cab straight home. I locked myself in my room and played back Craig's hotel clip frame by frame, over and over. The build was similar to mine, but if it was a fake, there would be a flaw somewhere. There always was. I enlarged the footage one frame at a time until I found it—a faint, unnatural distortion along the edge of a mirror in the background. A classic deepfake artifact. And the only person with both the technical skills to pull it off and a reason to do Sandra's dirty work was Wade. Wade had studied computer science. He'd always had a taste for that kind of gray-area technical work. I immediately reached out to a former colleague from Vivid Stream Media's tech department who I'd stayed on good terms with, Derek Mills. "I need a favor. Can you pull Wade's cloud storage IP login records?" He hesitated. Then he thought about how Sandra used to grind him down, and his jaw set. "Give me two hours." In those two hours, the internet reached full boil. Hundreds of comments flooded my personal account. [Get out of streaming. Go die.] Mum sat reading them, shaking, tears streaming down her face. "Lexi, how can they do this to you? I'll go after every single one of them myself." I wrapped my arms around her and rubbed her back. "Mum, don't. The higher they jump right now, the harder they're going to land." Two hours later, Derek sent me an encrypted archive. "It's all in there: the original files, the deepfake project files, and the chat logs between Wade and Craig. Craig took $30,000 from Aunt Sandra. Wade handled the fake video. They were going all out to bury you." I looked at the evidence in my hands. At eight o'clock that night, I went live across every platform I had. The stream title was: "Let's Settle This Now."