CEO's Contract Obsession-Chapter 326: His Ring And Wristwatch

Mary has been running back and forth to Ash, Ava, Theo, and the morgue. She took this responsibility since Anton was already busy with the press and the shareholders in Welsh Holdings, Inc.

Sandra stayed in Bellory’s Main Office also dealing with the media while Maya was still trying to get to the hospital after dropping off Mary’s parents there to help coordinate with the paramedics and firefighters. The explosion caused very heavy traffic since the first pumping station exploded a few minutes later, after getting hit by the debris coming from the second station.

It’s already late and it must be morning where Amy is, Mary thought. Mitch had sent her a message that Amy fainted after receiving the news and hadn’t woken up yet. She was also informed that Rei is already taking care of canceling Amy’s book tour with the help of her publisher.

Mitch also told her that Rei was not in a good mental state and had immersed himself in talking with his security team and arranging their way back home without asking Amy. Rei already knows what Amy wants and does not waste a single minute after seeing Amy comfortably lie down in one of the beds in the mall’s clinic.

When Maya arrived in the hospital she found Mary sitting in the hallway outside the ICU where Ava is. She was lost in her own thoughts and looking at particularly nothing. She looks so exhausted and her eyes are so puffy and red.

"Mary..." Maya uttered, trying to stop her tears from falling.

Mary shifted her gaze to her and when their eyes met it was as if they felt each other’s feelings with just one look and their tears fell in unison. Mary ran to her and the two ladies hugged each other trying to find comfort and emotional support.

Mary was the first one to pull away and asked, "Have they found Henry already? Please tell me you have good news?" Mary said, almost pleading.

Maya shook her head while wiping her tears, "I’m sorry. The firefighters are still trying to put out the fire in both pumping stations and they can’t go in yet. Everyone was saying that Henry was inside the station when it happened. I just wish that he was not and that the people are wrong."

"Amy hasn’t woken up yet. She must be devastated and I can’t imagine what she must be feeling right now," Mary said while sniffing and sobbing at the same time.

"Is Theo awake?" Maya asked, shyly.

"Yes, he woke up a while ago. His staff is with him right now, thank God he only sustained minor injuries, and the doctors are only requiring him to stay overnight just for observation. Same with Ash, although he hasn’t woken up yet, the doctors said that his CT scan is clear and that there’s nothing to worry about," Mary stated.

"So he hasn’t heard the bad news yet, huh?" Maya uttered.

Mary sighed before shaking her head, "Not yet, and I don’t know how to tell him. And I think it is better for him to hear it from me than hear it from the doctors."

"Hear what? Is it about Ava? Is she ok? Is she even alive? Tell me, Mary?! I-I saw her and... and..." Ash could not keep his emotions from pouring out anymore, and dropped to his knees in front of Mary as he cried his heart out.

After the first explosion happened he ran to the site and found Ava on the ground with burned clothes and skin, and it looked like someone had moved her to that location for she was already in a safe place, away from the second station.

But then he heard another explosion before he felt someone push him and got knocked out, next thing he knew was that he was in the hospital with bandages on his head and arm. The first thing that came to his mind was Ava, if he didn’t know what she was wearing, he would not be able to recognize her.

Her hair was gone, her face was unrecognizable, and she had second and third-degree burns on her upper body and some burns on her legs. He was not even sure if she was still breathing when he found her.

Mary cried again, she had seen Ash cry before a lot of times in fact, but she had never seen him cry like this hard before. She can feel how deep the wound is in his heart, and no words can describe it.

Mary kneeled down too and held Ash’s shoulder, she took in several deep breaths for she didn’t know how to tell him the bad news, "A-Ash, Ava is alive...but..."

"She is?" Ash interrupted Mary and mellowed down his sobbing but Mary was not finished yet.

"Yes, she is but the burns she incurred were extensive–"

"I know, I already saw it before I was knocked unconscious. Where is she? Bring me to her," Ash exclaimed before standing up to look for Ava’s room.

But Mary stopped him, "Wait, Ash... There’s something else that you need to know. It’s your father. He is... He is gone, Ash. Uncle Lucas is gone, I’m so sorry..." This time it was Mary who slumped on the floor as she sobbed again.

She had to identify a lot of bodies earlier and one of them was Lucas Brighton. The rescuers told her that they found him on top of Ash and Ava’s body. Lucas used his own body to protect Ash and Ava from the second explosion.

A part of a metal sheet coming from the first pumping station had killed him, saving Ash and Ava’s life. He was pronounced dead on the spot for it had sliced his spinal column into half.

Ash was in a complete state of shock, he stopped voicing out his cries but his tears did not stop falling. He felt cold, as if his blood had left his body and his heart stopped beating. He was frozen and so was everything around him. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

His ears were ringing, his vision was blurry. He doesn’t know how to react. He wanted to scream... He wanted to shout... He wanted to wail... But his body and his voice were not cooperating.

He just stood there unmoving like a statue devoid of emotions. One part of him is denying what he just heard while the other part is full of regrets. The last time he was with him, his father warned him but he doubted his words and now he is dead... because of him.

Ash is blaming himself, if he just believed what his father had said and taken action right away instead of asking so many questions then perhaps he wouldn’t have died and Ava would have been safe.

When Ash finally gathered his strength and voice again, he screamed before punching the concrete wall beside him over and over again, making his fist bleed.

"Oh my God, Ash stop! Please stop!" Maya and Mary quickly stopped him but he was so strong and full of rage that the two women were having a hard time stopping him.

"Help! Please help us!" Maya yelled, alerting the hospital staff to help them stop Ash from breaking all the bones in his hand.

However, that didn’t stop Ash from struggling, he pushed the nurses and started banging his head on the wall.

"Sedate him, now!" One of the nurses shouted before another came and injected Ash with sedatives.

Ash slowly lost consciousness and soon fell into deep sleep. Mary and Maya watched the nurses carry Ash back to his room.

Mary’s hands were on her waist and forehead while Maya placed her hands on her heart as both ladies stood frozen on their spot. They didn’t know how to handle the situation anymore.

And soon they know that they will have to face Amy and Rei and they are sure that their reaction will be more grave than that of Ash’s.

Mary and Maya had decided to stay in the waiting lounge since visiting hours in the ICU were already done, plus they could watch the news there to see what was happening in the wellsite.

Mary’s phone rang and saw her father’s name on it. She quickly answered it hoping for some good news, "Yes, dad? What is the update there?"

Mary heard his father sigh before answering her question, "The fire is out, good thing the safety mechanism of the pumps kicked in and automatically shut down the pipelines," he said.

"Oh, thank God. And what about Henry? Did they find him? Were they able to get inside?" Mary asked impatiently.

His father sighed again and said, "The firefighters found his ring and wristwatch. They guessed that it was his because it was an expensive one, that’s why it survived that kind of heat, and only he could afford it. But they want the family to confirm it to identify the body."

"What?" Mary exclaimed, completely annoyed with the rescuers, "How can they say that it is his? And what body are you talking about?"

"They found the items beside a completely burned body. The body is unrecognizable and has missing parts, because of the explosion. They were afraid that it is no longer possible to identify it with DNA testing."

"No, no, no. No Dad! I cannot tell Amy that! I cannot tell my best friend that her husband is dead!" Mary sobbed uncontrollably one more time. She doesn’t know what she feels anymore, and surely, once Amy learns about this, she will definitely feel worse.