Cut Out, Cashed In

"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.