Page 407 of Savage Bosses

"Fuck you!" Bryceson roared, launching himself at his father.

His father stood up as Bryce rushed him. Their bodies collided with a thud, and they wrestled on the floor, fists flying in a blur of pain and anger. Bryce ignored the intense pain he felt. He only had one goal: beat his father until the man was a bloody mess.

"Stop it! Both of you, stop!" His mother's voice cut through the chaos, her eyes wide with terror. "This isn't who we are! We’re family."

Bryceson froze, fist raised as he clutched his father’s shirt collar with his other hand. His chest heaved as he stared at the man beneath him. His father’s bloody nose was a sight for sore eyes. But he wanted to do more than just make him bleed.

And that thought scared him. He released his grip on his father's shirt and stood up, entire body throbbing with pain. This wasn't who he wanted to be. He couldn't let his father's feud destroy him too.

“I won’t be like you,” Bryce told his father. “I want nothing more to do with a man like you.”

“Bryce!” His mom gasped.

“You’re already like me,” his father said as he wiped blood from his nose. “You just don’t want to admit it. That’s why Tati left you. It’s because she could see it happening. She could feel it.”

“Shut up,” Bryce growled.

“It’s better this way. Now you can embrace who you truly are and stop hiding behind her morals.”

“Shut up,” Bryce yelled, feeling the weight of his father’s words press down on his heart.

He rushed from his father’s study with his mother running after him. Though he told her he wanted to be alone, she followed behind him until he reached his room. He closed the door behind him, hating himself for closing it in his mother’s face. But right now, he didn’t want to see her tears.

He had enough of his own. Bryce slumped to the floor in front of his door, letting the pain in his body wash over him. He wanted to feel the pain. He deserved it. Monsters deserve to be hurt. Wasn’t that what Tati thought? She’d left him, knowing he’d hurt like this. Was this what she wanted?

Bryce shook his head. This couldn’t be what she wanted. Tati wouldn’t hurt a fly. She’d never wish pain on anyone. He’d even taught her self-defense, but she never used it. She just tried her best to avoid altercations. If she fought someone, it was because that person forced her to. Bryce would not let his father’s words make him think badly of the woman he loved.

In the following days, Bryce worked hard during his rehab sessions. He was focused like never before. He took his medicine on time and listened to everything his mother and grandmother told him. However, he avoided any interaction with Patrick Cattaneo. Even when his father attempted to talk to him, Bryce just told the man to fuck off.

He was done being Patrick’s son. He worked hard to get well. And once he got the seal of approval from his doctor, his mother gave him a new phone, and he was allowed to leave the house. That was when he sought the help of Matthew. Matthew put a team together to search for Tati while Bryceson tried reaching her family.

He was shocked when her mother wouldn’t talk to him. And her father seemed to be in the dark, just as Bryceson was. No matter what he said to Tati’s mother, she wouldn’t divulge Tati’s location. Instead, she pretended not to know. Months passed, and no one on his team could find a trace of Tati.

She didn’t answer her phone. Her social media pages were still up, but she didn’t respond to any of his messages. Not even the messages he had her ex-co-workers send her. Someone was helping her stay off his radar. There was no way she could just disappear like this. And the fact that her mom wasn’t worried proved that her mother was involved.

But her mom wasn’t the one who sent her away. No, his Tati left on her own. Her mother was just being loyal to her by not telling him where she was. It took almost a year for the truth to sink in. It took almost a year of searching for her for him to realize that Tatianna Dupree had truly left him, and she had no intention of returning.

Once he reconciled with the fact that the woman he loved hadn’t loved him enough to remain by his side, he’d willed himself to let her go. Instead of focusing on finding her, he turned his attention to another matter.

A matter that had been at the back of his mind for a long time.Ritchie Grecco.Without his father’s knowledge, Bryceson and some men his uncle lent him, returned to Italy so Bryce could get his revenge on the man who’d caused him to lose so much.

It hadn’t taken his team long to kidnap Ritchie. For a week, Bryce tortured him in one of Marlo’s dungeons. He brought to life all those dark thoughts he’d tried to ignore over the years. He no longer asked himself,what would Tati do. He now asked himself,what would Tati hate.

And there were so many things his prude of an ex would hate. He made Ritchie endure all those things. And finally, after he’d tortured him to his heart's content, he removed his head from his body. Not in one blow. But in multiple blows – one a day, for three days. The bastard had the nerve to die before the job was done.

He returned the man’s body to his family in a casket and left Italy. For months afterward, Don Cattaneo received calls from their weak-ass relatives in Italy, complaining about what Bryce had done. But the Don was okay with it. Bryce had done what his father hadn’t been able to do.

He’d made others fear them. The relatives in Italy told them to keep their criminal activities in America. And Bryce was okay with that. With the approval of his Don, Bryce set up his own territory in Mississippi and even started managing some of the family businesses. He only talked to his father when he absolutely had to.

And even then, he did so to keep his mom and grandmother happy. His ruthless actions earned him both respect and fear from his peers, and his father couldn't have been prouder. But inside, the void left by Tati's absence only grew larger, fueling the rage that now consumed him. Standing in front of the full-length mirror in his bedroom, he removed the bloody shirt that was covered in the blood of his enemies.

He tossed the shirt into the biohazard bag he’d discard later. All was quiet in his condo as Bryce stared at the knife marks that decorated his body. Most were old. Many of the wounds were from his time in Italy.

Some were from his escapades in Mississippi. If Tatianna could see his body now, she wouldn’t recognize him. Closing his eyes, he pushed thoughts of her away.Fuck her.He didn’t give a fuck what she thought of him.

He was fine with the way he was. He was happy that he could now give in to his dark cravings. Bryceson smiled at his reflection, a sick satisfaction spreading through him. This was the version of him Tati had feared. He’d become the monster she’d always feared he’d become.

"She’ll return home one day,” he whispered to his reflection. “And when she does, I’ll let her see the monstershecreated," Bryce vowed, a dark determination settling over him like a shroud. "I’ll never let her forget the part she played in my descent. I’ll show her exactly who I am now. And then I’ll break her. I’ll make her a monster, too, so she can love this version of me just as much as she loved the old me."

With that vow, Bryce finished undressing and took a shower before getting rid of the evidence of his latest task from the Don. He climbed into bed and fell asleep. Like most nights, his dreams were of Tatianna Dupree.

And in his dreams, she was a monster, just like him. She was the most beautiful monster he’d ever seen. Bryceson was determined to make those dreams come true. He was determined to create that beautiful monster of his dreams.

This is the end of the past. Continue reading to read the present in Crave Me.

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