Chapter 7 - WHAT REBECCA SAID BEFORE SHE DIED
The first thing Rebecca Carter said in the video was:
“Turn that damn camera off.”
Ethan almost smiled.
Then he didn't.
The recording had been found in Brooke's old archive.
Rebecca was thin.
Headscarf.
Hospital bed at home.
Michael behind the camera.
Not visible.
Rebecca looked directly toward him.
“You hear me?”
Michael's voice:
It's just for us.
“That's what you always say before editing.”
Brooke explained.
This was never posted.
A private production review.
Recorded six weeks before Rebecca died.
Ethan watched.
His mother looked tired.
Alive enough that it hurt.
She said:
“I’m not saying delete everything.”
Then:
“I'm saying Ethan is starting to perform pain because he thinks it helps us.”
Ethan froze.
Rebecca continued.
“He asked me yesterday if crying about chemo would get more donations.”
Lauren covered her mouth.
Ethan did not remember saying it.
Maybe he had.
He was nine.
Michael's voice:
He wants to help.
“I know.”
Rebecca looked toward the camera.
“That is why we're supposed to be adults.”
Silence.
Then Michael:
The channel is paying for treatment.
Rebecca's face changed.
“I know.”
No moral purity.
They needed money.
Insurance denied parts of an out-of-network treatment plan.
Rebecca had approved sponsorships herself.
Then she said:
“But if I die, you do not turn my death into his job.”
Ethan stared.
Michael did not answer.
Rebecca continued.
“Family clips. Fine. If he asks.”
Another breath.
“No surprise grief. No filming him before helping. No manufacturing bad days because the good days don't perform.”
Ethan's stomach tightened.
There.
Before Rebecca died, somebody had already worried about exactly what Michael later became.
Michael's voice sounded angry.
You think that's what I'm doing?
Rebecca:
“I think you learned that my worst week paid better than our best month.”
Michael:
That's not fair.
Rebecca closed her eyes.
“No.”
Then:
“It's accurate.”
Brooke stopped the video.
Ethan looked at her.
“There's more.”
“Yes.”
“I want it.”
Melissa said:
“Not today.”
Ethan turned.
“Why?”
“Because there's another thirty-eight minutes, some of it about finances, your mother's care, and things adults said while terrified.”
“That sounds like my family.”
Lauren flinched.
Melissa did not.
“We'll review it and make sure you get access in a way that doesn't make you sit through things irrelevant to your rights just because they're emotionally explosive.”
Ethan looked at the frozen image of his mother.
He hated that everybody had reasons to control information.
He also knew a thirty-eight-minute dying-parent argument might not be something he should binge because he was angry.
He nodded.
Barely.
Then Brooke gave Melissa another document.
Draft agreement.
Rebecca wanted twenty-five percent of net family-content revenue placed into an account for Ethan.
Michael objected.
Not because he wanted the money personally.
At least according to emails.
He said revenue fluctuated too much.
Medical debt was unpredictable.
The family might need cash.
Rebecca compromised:
Fifteen percent minimum.
Independent accountant.
Annual statement for Ethan once he turned twelve.
The agreement was never signed.
Rebecca entered hospice.
Then died.
Ethan had turned twelve eight months earlier.
Nobody gave him a statement.
Michael had not even created the full account Rebecca wanted.
Lauren looked furious.
Ethan looked at the savings balance again.
Thirty-four thousand dollars.
Real money.
Not nothing.
Also not what his mother had requested.
Then Brooke said:
“There's something your dad did after Rebecca died that I think matters.”
Ethan waited.
“He changed the channel name.”
“It was always Ethan Strong.”
“No.”
Brooke looked at him.
“Originally it was Carter Family Strong.”
Ethan stared.
Michael renamed the account three weeks after Rebecca's funeral.
Put Ethan's first name in the brand.
Then filed the LLC around it.
No discussion with Ethan.
No independent adult.
No formal guardian for his commercial interests.
Ethan asked:
“Why?”
May you like
Brooke's answer was quiet.
“Because videos centered on you were outperforming everything else.”
