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Cut Out, Cashed In
Cut Out, Cashed In
Author: Jay Ellery

Chapter 1

Author: Jay Ellery
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—"
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  • Cut Out, Cashed In   Chapter 10

    Aunt Sandra was formally arrested and charged with manufacturing and selling substandard products at a scale that qualified as a serious criminal offense. Wade, as an accomplice and the account's actual operator, went down with her.I attended the sentencing as a witness.Aunt Sandra stood in a prison jumpsuit, her hair completely white, shrunken and hollow like a woman twenty years older. From behind the defendant's rail, she screamed at me like something feral."Lexi, you set me up! You did this deliberately! You'll get what's coming to you! I'll come back for you even from the grave!"I looked at her, calm and steady. "Aunt Sandra, you always loved saving money. No expenses inside. Room and board covered. Plenty of time to save up."She let out a sharp, broken wail, choked on it, and collapsed behind the rail with her eyes rolled back.The judge brought down the gavel.Aunt Sandra was sentenced to ten years on multiple counts. Wade got five.The dream they'd built on my back

  • Cut Out, Cashed In   Chapter 9

    To pay off their debts and stay ahead of the loan sharks, Aunt Sandra and Wade moved into a damp, windowless basement unit.I wasn't done with them.In this industry, your reputation is everything, and I started digging up every corner Aunt Sandra had cut over the years. At one point, she'd used toxic low-grade paint on a batch of children's toys to save money. Several kids developed serious allergic reactions. She'd bought the families' silence with small payouts and buried the story.I tracked down those families and helped them reopen their cases.Aunt Sandra was now pushing Wade around in a wheelchair after his legs had been broken by the loan sharks, dodging creditors on the street every day and barely surviving.While my own business was growing, I'd launched my own supply chain company, and things were picking up fast. Then Aunt Sandra made her move.Somehow, she'd gotten hold of my new channel's confidential product list. She quietly opened a shadow account and started pr

  • Cut Out, Cashed In   Chapter 8

    The video landed, and somehow, it actually worked.A wave of self-appointed voices started showing up in my comments, people who fancied themselves reasonable and fair-minded.[If she really did pay for your education, then honestly, the $400,000 sounds about right.][Family comes first. Even if your aunt did wrong, driving her to this point seems excessive.][Don't forget where you came from just because you've made something of yourself.]I read through them and felt nothing but disbelief.Aunt Sandra paid for my education? The greatest skill that woman ever had was taking credit for things she never did and repainting black as white.Mum was at home tearing through every drawer and cabinet she could find, hands shaking. "Lexi, don't you listen to a word of that garbage! Every cent of your schooling came from your father's death benefit and the three jobs I worked around the clock. Sandra never gave us a single dollar. On top of that, she borrowed $50,000 from your dad's funer

  • Cut Out, Cashed In   Chapter 7

    The stream had barely started when 300,000 viewers flooded in.Sandra's bots, plus every curious onlooker the smear campaign had dragged in. The comment section was a wall of filth, faces impossible to make out through the noise.[Trash! Get out of streaming!][What's your rate? Give Aunt Sandra her life back!][Ban this woman already!]I sat in front of the camera without expression and cut to my screen. First piece of evidence: the original signed agreement between Aunt Sandra and me, along with the stamped payment records."Look carefully. 8% commission, in writing. $5 million in sales. $400,000 owed. She paid me $500."Next, I played the call recording of Wade asking me for surgery money, admitting he'd gambled away the full $400,000."Please, I'm begging you. I lost it all on sports betting. If you don't lend us the money, I'll show up and make your life hell."The stream went quiet for a split second. Then the comments started shifting. It still wasn't enough."As for C

  • Cut Out, Cashed In   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 t

  • Cut Out, Cashed In   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 morni

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