A Journey from Bitterness to Truth (Matilda and Yvan) novel Chapter 543

When the ear-splitting explosion erupted, Yvan felt a sharp, searing pain in his back. Instinctively, he shielded the mother and daughter beneath him, gritting his teeth as shards of glass embedded themselves into his flesh, eliciting a muffled groan from him.

Subsequently, as the embrace of unconscious darkness enveloped him alongside waves of pain, Yvan detected the metallic tang of blood. However, his strength had deserted him, leaving him unable to even open his eyes.

Before succumbing to the darkness, a distant roar echoed in his ears —

"Get them out of here! Don't look back!"

And then, all was void of light.

...

When Yvan eventually opened his eyes, he was immediately flooded with the memory of the last thing he saw before passing out — Keaton, hands in his pockets, standing at the foot of his bed.

Feeling like his brain might have taken a hit, seeing double for a moment, he blinked hard and the world slowly came back into focus.

"Must've messed up my optic nerves," he thought silently.

Keaton, spotting his confused state, couldn't help but chuckle. "What were you thinking, crashing headfirst into a department store? Lucky for you it was closed for New Year's Day. Could've been a lot worse if you’d hit someone."

So that was why R7CKY had chosen an empty store — to minimize collateral damage.

Struggling to sit up, Yvan turned to see Matilda and Logan sleeping in the adjacent bed.

"Is she hurt?" he croaked, his voice barely a whisper.

"Just a broken bone or two. She'll be alright," Keaton replied, nodding towards her.

"And you? You should see your back. Well, you can't, but I took care of it. Glass shards everywhere. A bit deeper and you’d have had a free kidney piercing."