CEO's Contract Obsession-Chapter 323: A Deafening Roar

Lucas Brighton is not getting any younger and is also always sick these days. His sister already begged him to tell Ash about his illness and make him go back home but seeing that Ash is now happy with a woman in his life that he could trust his life with he warned his sister not to tell his son and let him be.

He watched Ash suffer over the years because of his love for Amy and now that he finally moved on and is happy, he doesn’t want to ruin that. He will die alone bringing all the bad decisions he made in his lifetime along with him to the grave.

He still goes to work as normal as the CEO and Chairman of Brighton Industries, Inc. even though there are days that he doesn’t feel good. He wanted to make the company prosper more for that is the only good thing that he can give his son when he dies someday and he is preparing for that already.

It is his practice to finish all his morning rituals and breakfast first before checking all his messages and email when he gets in the car. He will usually look for personal messages first from family and friends before checking all business-related concerns.

Lucas rolled his eyes as soon as he saw Dimitri’s name on the messages and decided to finish checking the rest before going back to his text message. He despises the man, all the sins that he committed in life are because he let Dimitri manipulate him.

He betrayed his own best friend just because of the money Dimitri offered him, and because of that he can no longer get out of his grip. But one thing is for sure, he will not let his son get caught if the same situation as he did.

His secretary brief him first on what his schedule looked like for the day before he decided to open Dimitri’s message to him. He dismissed his secretary and was about to sit on his chair when read;

[Vanessa here, Dimitri hired men to kill Ash and Henry tomorrow. Please inform them ASAP!]

He felt his blood rush from his lower body all the way up to his head, making him dizzy and in a state of panic. He knows that Ash and Vanessa worked together in finding the person behind Henry’s plane crash, and he trusted Vanessa that when it comes to Henry’s safety, she would not lie.

"C-Call the d-driver, c-call the d-driver," Lucas stuttered and was trembling as he rush towards the door of his office but the message left him in complete disarray, he stumbled down on the floor and almost crawled to the door.

"Sir? You want me to call the driver?" His secretary was dumbfounded to see her boss on his fours on the floor, shaking, and trying to head towards the door.

"GET THE DRIVER NOW!" Lucas shouted making his secretary jolt and ran out of his office to call the driver.

His head security went it and helped him get up, "Where are we headed, Sir?" He asked after hearing him shout at his secretary.

"A-Ash is in d-danger, I m-must s-save him," Lucas said with a trembling voice and is about to cry due to too much panic and worry.

"Understood Sir!" His ever-trusted bodyguard radioed his team and driver to meet them in front of the basement parking entrance right away before he grabbed Lucas’ arm and placed it on his shoulder, assisting him in walking.

His bodyguard quickly gave him his pills to calm his nerves and a bottle of water as soon as they got inside the car.

"Sir, what are we dealing with?" The bodyguard asked.

"I don’t know. Vanessa just said Dimitri is planning to kill Ash and Henry. Do what you have to do once we get there. I don’t care about anyone else, I only care about my son," Lucas exclaimed, and his bodyguard nodded in agreement to his order.

********

It was already almost lunchtime in the wellsite and the construction for the refinery is doing very well since workers are building it twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. The number of construction workers in the area was overwhelming and they also have to increase their security personnel to make sure no accidents or crime will happen since the drill site is already operating and there are a lot of crude oils that were stored already in the refinery.

Ava sold her apartment in the city and Ash had bought a tiny house on wheels and parked it near the refinery so that they can save more. The amount of expenses they need to pay for the construction was huge but was still manageable as long as they will either postpone their wedding or not have a celebration anymore.

Ava wanted to just register their marriage since she’s not a party person anyways, but Ash did not agree for he wants to give Ava a wedding that he will not forget. In the end, they both agreed to postpone it so that they also be not too busy anymore with the construction.

"Hon, it’s almost lunchtime, I’ll just cook something quick for us. Call me if you need something ok?" Ava said before leaving Ash in their temporary container office, heading to their tiny house on wheels.

Just after a few minutes, Ash who was busy on his laptop heard the door behind him open again, "Did you forget something hon?" he asked without removing his gaze from his laptop.

"Come with me, you must not be here!" Ash heard a familiar voice. It was none other than his father, Lucas Brighton.

Ash quickly turned around totally surprised to see his father in his office. The last time they saw each other they were both angry and wanted to cut their ties.

"Dad? What are you doing here?" Ash slowly stood up to get a chair for his dad to sit on.

"No need for that, let’s get you out of here," Lucas then grabbed Ash’s arm and pulled him but his attempt failed. Ash pulled back his arm away from him.

"No, what are you talking about? Explain what is happening," Ash said as he cross his arms.

"Dimitri is out to kill you, now let’s go! You are not safe here," Lucas attempted to grab Ash’s arm one more time but Ash swats away his hand.

"I will not go anywhere until you explain to me what is happening. Why would Dimitri kill me?"

"I don’t know too, I only know that he will kill you today or at least attempt to," Lucas retorted impatiently.

"And how did you get to know about this?" Ash inquired further. He doesn’t know if his dad is telling the truth or if this is just one of his antics. But he still can’t dismiss the idea that it could be true since Dimitri and he are now basically competitors.

"Vanessa told me in a text message ok?! Do you believe me now? We are running out of time. Please let’s go," Lucas almost begged. And he is even willing to knock his son out if that’s the only way to save him.

"Not so fast, let me see that message before I believe you."

Lucas cursed before reaching out for his phone inside his pocket and showed it to Ash.

"Vanessa here, Dimitri hired men to kill Ash and Henry tomorrow. Please inform them ASAP!" Ash read out aloud the text message while frowning, "Are you sure, Vanessa is not just playing a prank on you? Perhaps you did something to upset her and this is her way of getting back at you."

"Are you listening to yourself? Do you think I will rush here if I didn’t think that this is real?!" Lucas yelled.

"Alright, alright. How about this, since Henry’s name is also in that message, let’s go to him and see what security measures can we do. This place’s security system and personnel are outstanding so rest assured that we are safe here."

Lucas agreed to come with Ash to talk to Henry first. He believed him when he said the place is secured since he experienced the strictness of the security guards before he was able to come in.

Ash noticed his father was having difficulty in walking so he guided him by putting his arm around his shoulders since they are walking on a gravel path.

***BOOM!!!***

A deafening roar engulfed everything, the air shimmered with an ominous heat, and in an instant, bright curls of fire and smoke spiraled outward the sky. The ground trembled with force.

Ash, Lucas, and everyone else around them were stunned at the sight in front of them. One of the oil drills had exploded and fire is everywhere.

Only one thing came into Ash’s mind... Ava. He ran to their house but before he can run further he saw his secretary who was running towards him.

"Sir! I am afraid that Ms. Lopez got caught in the explosion. She was running earlier and told me to turn off the stove in your house and then she ran towards the drill site," The secretary said, and Ash did not waste any second and ran towards the explosion.