All Chapters of After Rebirth, I Let the Intern Dig Her Own Grave: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

"Erin, does my Black Friday campaign look good to you?""It doesn't just look good. This is the textbook definition of a viral growth hack!"Cassie's eyes lit up instantly."I knew it! Erin, you finally get it!"She tipped her chin up with a smug little smile and turned to the ops specialists standing behind her."You guys were just saying I was messing with the rules, you heard that? Even Director Erin thinks my idea is solid."Jake from the ops team swallowed hard, pointing at the numbers on the screen, his voice barely steady."But Cassie... this means a customer buys $300 worth of stuff and we not only give it away for free, we're paying them $50 on top of that.""If deal hunters catch wind of this, they'll drain our accounts in a single day."Cassie rolled her eyes, her tone dripping with contempt."Jake, this is exactly why you're still a junior specialist after three years.""Do you even know what growth hacking means? Do you understand lifetime customer value?"She crossed her

At five o'clock, CEO Jason waddled in looking like he'd already started celebrating, his round belly leading the way, face flushed, grinning."I hear we've got a genius idea cooking in here? What are the pre-sale numbers looking like?"The moment Jason opened his mouth, Cassie was right there to meet him."Jason! You're here at exactly the right time!"She steered him toward the big screen and pulled up the projected data charts she'd just generated."Take a look. This is organic referral data from the first two hours after I dropped a hint about the deal."On the screen, a red line shot upward at nearly a vertical angle."Estimated DAU is already past three million. By midnight when we go live, projected revenue could hit $50 million!"Cassie's face was glowing, her voice buzzing with energy.Jason stared at those numbers like he'd forgotten how to blink."Fif— $50 million?!""That's right. On top of that, we're looking at at least two million verified card-linked users!"Cassie press

The room went dead silent.The red numbers on the screen were still jumping wildly, casting a harsh glow across everyone's frozen faces.Champagne dripped off the edge of the table and soaked quietly into the carpet.Cassie blinked, then let out a short laugh."Tom, what are you even talking about?"She walked over and kicked the scattered report with her toe, completely unbothered."Out of money? That just means the orders blew up faster than our cash reserves. We'll go to the bank tomorrow with these numbers and get a bridge loan, literally a one-hour conversation."David nodded along. "Right? Tom, relax. You really getting rattled by a cash flow thing?"Jason's face had changed, but he was still trying to hold himself together."Tom. Explain. Now."Tom pulled himself off the floor. His whole body was shaking.He grabbed Cassie by the collar, eyes bloodshot, practically vibrating."Cash reserves? Are you out of your mind?"He shoved the report against her face."Open your eyes and re

"Jason! Jason!"The floor became chaos, someone was doing compressions, someone else had already called 911.Cassie sat slumped on the ground, her mascara streaked halfway down her face, her hair a mess.She stared blankly at the GMV counter, which had stopped jumping and settled on a number that looked like a sick joke.Negative $18 million.That was the company's actual cash deficit.Jason came to under a huddle of people trying to help him. He shoved them off the second he opened his eyes and lurched toward my desk.He wrenched a drawer open and tore through it like a man who'd lost something he couldn't afford to lose."The agreement, where is the liability agreement?"Jason's eyes were red, locked on the desk."Erin, where is the full-liability form you had them sign this afternoon?"I walked to the safe and handed it over.Jason grabbed it out of my hand and stared at the signatures. Then he turned around and held it in Cassie's and David's faces."Both of you! In writing! Black

Three months later.A cold autumn wind swept through the skyscrapers downtown.I sat in the regional president's office at Nova Commerce, the industry's largest player, reviewing the latest quarterly financials.After walking away from that smoking wreck of a company, I'd leveraged years of real operational experience and an unblemished track record, and a headhunter from Nova Commerce had come calling with an offer I didn't have to think twice about."Erin." My assistant Sophie knocked and poked her head in, her expression a little uncertain. "There's a woman downstairs insisting on seeing you. Security's turned her away multiple times but she won't leave. She says she knows you, her name is Cassie. She seems... not quite right."My hand paused over the file I was reviewing."Send her up."Ten minutes later, the office door opened.I almost didn't recognize her.Cassie was wearing a dirty old coat. Her once-sleek hair hung in tangled clumps around her shoulders. Her face was sallow, h