TRUE COLORS || MR. DALVIN.

[ Chapter 23 ]

A head peeked out of the door.

"Hey, girl."

"Uh. Hey, Vanessa. Can I come in?" I asked.

"Of course, of course. Come on," she said, opening the door for me.

As I walked in I analyzed her appearance, noting the cornrows, lack of makeup and casual clothing, a white t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. Now she was dressed like she wanted to fight. But I'd keep calm, for now.

I looked around curiously, noticing how her apartment was decorated mainly in pinks and almost kinda reminded me of my granny's crib with how it smelled of sweet perfume.

"Do you wanna sit down?" She asked, and I folded my arms across my chest.

"I'll stand. Now what did you want me over here for?"

She sighed before sitting on the couch herself and rubbed her face, staring down at the floor for a hot second before looking back up at me.

"I was supposed to help set you up."

My eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"Look, I'm not gonna beat around the bush. You're not a dumb girl, that's been clear since the moment you ditched my brother for Dalvin. So, I'm sure you know Nate knows you talked to 5-0 about that shit that went down at the convenience store," she said, leaning back against the couch.

"Well yeah, I figured so. I was the only one who saw that shit," I replied.

"Right. Which means Nate wants to get you back, and....he wanted me to help. That's why I asked you to come here."

My hand twitched at my side and I could tell she noticed the slight bulge at the front of my shirt, because she eyed it and swallowed nervously.

"What?"

"He actually wanted me to give you his address and tell you it was mine so when you got there, it would be him waiting for you," she confessed, looking guilty as a motherfucker.

"So what was that whole woman to woman shit about?" I asked, still suspicious.

"It was supposed to give you more reason to go, so you'd wanna hear what I had to say. But I changed my mind, I couldn't through with it and.....shit, I'm so sorry. I should've just told you over the phone," she said, putting her head in her hands.

"....he's here, isn't he?"

"No!" She said quickly, "He's not, I swear."

I stared at her, eyes narrowing a bit before I lifted up my shirt and pulled the gun out, my hands shaking ever so slightly.

Slowly, she got on her feet with her hands up, eyes widened with fear.

"Don't lie to me," I said as I tried to stay calm.

"Why would I lie to you when you got that in your hands?" She asked, nodding her head towards me.

"I don't know, you tell me. Would you die for your brother?" I questioned.

"Hell no," she said firmly, shaking her head, "After everything he's done to me? I don't think so."