It was getting late into the evening in Philadelphia on what turned out to be a mighty cold Saturday evening.. Snow seemed to be on the horizon as dark clouds and chilling winds were sending people flocking indoors to get away from the cold. Dolph and his bodyguard Keyglock were doing the opposite.. Bundled up for the cold, the two set out for the traphouse in the heart of Society Hill.. another night of hustling drugs on the corner..

Along the way Keyglock parted with Dolph, leaving him alone with a few of his bodyguards as he went to his own corner a few blocks dwon from where Dolph planned to setup shop.. He cuffed up his jacket after doing a little stupid handshake with Keyglock and continued on down the block when he spotted a familiar face walking on the opposite side of the street.. was that?

Dolph stopped dead in his tracks and squinted at the woman and her entourage on the other side of the street.. no fucking way.. it was that white girl who picked his damn pockets back in New York!

@MelanieThomas spotted Dolph and the two locked eyes for a few moments before gunfire erupted in the streets between the two groups as Dolph quickly pulled his gun and began shooting.. The barrage of bullets continued on between the two parties.. seemingly though neither parties had hit each other yet...

"Think you can just steal my money and I'd forget about it??"

Dolph yelled at her from behind a car as he continued to fire shots blindly in her direction as he laughed waiting for a response and watching for her to make a move..

It was Saturday evening, the point of the week when most people were either spending it with their families or in the beginning stages of getting wasted. Melanie though was doing neither, well she didn't have a family but the drinking surely would have been something she would be doing if it were up to her but it wasn't. Viktor was making her work, she needed to go pick up some money in Society Hill. It was an area she didn't overly know too well but it didn't matter, her head guard Norene knew exactly where they were going.

They drove most of the way but did park the car a couple blocks away from their first pick up spot. It was a safety tactic, she wasn't really sure what safety tactic it was but it was something she didn't question. So bundled up Melanie and a couple of her employed associated made their way down the street. That's when out of the corner of her eye Melanie spotted them... Melanie of the man locked eyes, there was an eerie silence for what felt like forever but in fact was just a couple of seconds.

Melanie dove behind the first car she saw, her guards followed suit. Pulling her gun off her hip Melanie fired a couple rounds in their direction while staying completely covered by the metal of the car. Gun shots were flying throughout the street, she could hear the pinging off the metal and off the brick walls of the building behind them.

In the mixture of the gunfire Melanie heard the stern deep voice of Adolph "Think you can just steal my money and I'd forget about it??" Melanie fired a couple more times in his direction before responding.

"That $15,000 was what I call a jackass fee. You were a jackass so I took what was owed to me. You're lucky it was just your money I took and not something irreplaceable!"

She reached her hand over the car and fired a couple more shots before speaking up again.

"Now you come here, to my territory and think you own the place. You came to the wrong city boy!"

The bullets ripped through the steel of the car as the bullets nestled themselves somewhere in the car.. It was the only thing protecting him from utter sudden death.. He heard the low distinct voice of the woman who robbed him back in New York.. he was quite sure now that it was the same woman..

"Jackass fee? Never heard of it! What I have heard of is the word THIEF and that's what you is! You stole my bag of coke first then my cash!"

He peered around the corner but was met by a bullet that planted itself just in the corner of the car.. he let out a huge sigh...

"This white girl is gonna be the death of me I swear.."

He mumbled to himself before holding his pistol over the back of the car and let out a few more rounds in her direction

"Your territory?? Bella Vista belongs to my boss @NotoriousBIG .. you got things twisted girl scout!"

He reloaded his gun and nodded at Keyglock who began to move to the right of the cars in an attempt to flank Melanie and her crew.. 

Now she heard some sort of talking coming from the other side of the road but with the mixture of gunshots she couldn't completely make out everything he said. Reaching over the car, Melanie pulled the trigger of her gun once more. This time instead of the sound of a bullet leaving the chamber all that was heard was a simple click. She was out of bullets and she didn't have anymore.

Melanie let out a sigh and tucked the gun back into her waist band. Her guards still had a couple rounds though, they were always packing extra. It was kind of their job. Suddenly there was a silence, no one was shooting anymore. Seemed both sides were a bit low on ammo. This gave Melanie another opportunity to speak up.

"How dare you call me a thief, you and I both know that money wasn't yours to begin with! I just simply took what wasn't rightfully yours! Thank you by the way, needless to say that night in New York was a good one. 15k goes a long way..." She began laughing.

Once she began laughing a couple more bullets came zooming towards her and her entourage, followed by some more silence. With a deep serious tone in his voice Adolph spoke up. "Bitch, you have no idea the shit storm you are bringing onto yourself. Just wait until BIG finds out about this, you're dead!"

"BIG?" She knew him... how did he know him though? "Don't make me get Viktor involved in this, you want to talk about a shit storm you don't want!" It was apparent this guy didn't know who she really was.

Dolph and his men were just nearly out of bullets, only firing a few rounds off and saving a clip for their guns just in case.. The girls voice was hard to hear over all the commotion and sudden gunshots.. but one thing did standout.. "Viktor" .. Dolph knew that name well, it was his Boss' boss.. well.. he controlled the entire city of Philadelphia...

Dolph ordered his men to stand down as he cleared his throat and attempted to speak louder so she could hear him clearly..

"@Viktor?? How do you know Viktor..-" Dolph questioned before another gunshot rang off hitting the car in front of him

"DAM! Cut it out with the shooting!! I'm going to come out alright?? Let's talk this out...."

Dolph said as he raised his hand with his pistol in it.. the shooting ceased and he poked his head around the car and caught eye contact with Melanie again.. he slowly stepped out from behind the car as she too did the same.. she was still holding her gun pointed at him...

"We gon' do this again dollface? Hold me at gunpoint while we talk civilized again?" he said with a smirk

"I'm gonna put my gun away.. and you do the same alright??"

He slowly lowered his gun and holstered it in his back waistband before pulling his hand slowly back.. He smiled when Melanie lowered her gun but they remained on opposite sides of the streets still.. The place was a barren wasteland following the skirmish.. any citizens or residents had fled for cover and or their life.. leaving just the two parties in the streets..

"So.. it seems we have a common friend? Viktor? My boss @NotoriousBIG and I work with him... but that doesn't explain where you come in? Pretty young girl like yourself got no business in the streets.." he said with a smirk

"So.. who are you?"

Reluctantly Melanie stood up from behind the car, with her gun still drawn. Dolph spoke up to her, commenting about their previous encounter. It wasn't until she realized there were no guns pointed at her that she was comfortable enough to tuck her gun back into it's holster on her belt. There was an eerie silence in the streets, seemed the only people about were the ones just firing at each other.

She listened to his inquiries, was kind of funny how he still had no idea whom she really was. He was in for a bit of a shock or at least she thought he was.

"Well I thought you already knew who I was, I'm nothing but a random thief. Remember?" She scoffed and shook her head. It was about at that time that her entourage joined her in the streets. Making sure to stand just to the side and behind her. Melanie motioned to them to stay back just a bit.

"Where were we?" She thought about it for a moment. "Oh, Viktor. Well you see, I work directly with him." She didn't want to divulge her position just yet, just in case.

Dolph always knew there was something more to this girl, ever since he chased her through the streets back in New York, he just knew.. A random thief she clearly was not, especially with the amount of bodyguards she had around her.. There was a brief pause as she finished her sentence.. "I work directly with him" echoed through his head, was this young girl really with the Russian Mafia?? Keyglock came walking around the car to join his boss when he began smiling at Melanie

"Melanie! what a coincidence your here.. we was just in a crazy shootout with some cats-" 

He stopped when Dolph smacked him in the head, he yelped as he began rubbing the back of it...

"The fuck, you know her dog?? We done just got into a shootout with her and you ain't even gon' mention you know her??" he questioned 

"Well I ain't seen her face dog.. you know me... I live for the thrill.. guns and shootouts is my thing boss..." he said still rubbing his head

"I know the Miss here from when I go to make drop offs to @Viktor's compound..."

Dolph smacked him again, this time a bit harder before shaking his head and turning his attention back to Melanie

"Seems we have a bit of a problem here, Ms. Thomas that needs resolbing.." he scoffed.. shooting at a made member of the mafia was usually grounds for being wacked yourself, especially without authorization from one of the bosses'

"Perhaps we can take a walk down the street to my Tavern and talk it out there.. It's getting a bit cold out and well, this is no place to talk business.. so what do you say... truce?"

He took a step towards Melanie and held out his hand in a friendly manner to shake on it...

It was almost instantly when Dolph commented about the weather that Melanie realized how cold it actually was. It must have been the drop in adrenaline or rather the increase in adrenaline during the shootout that kept her rather warm.

"The Tavern sounds good."

Melanie tucked her hands into her pockets, trying to keep them out of the cold, only briefly taking them out to shake the mans hand. That's when it hit her, she has heard of this man around Philadelphia. Except he wasn't known as Dolph around her headquarter but rather Dolphin. Always seemed a bit odd to her but now she knew why.

Promptly after the handshake Dolph and his crew began walking up the street, right in the middle of the street of course. As if he owed it or something, she shook her head but motioned to her guys. "Come on guys, let's go get out of the cold."

The two groups walked the about half of a mile up the road to the tavern. Dolph's main man Keyglock held the door opened for Melanie.

"Thank you!" She said to him with a smile. He smiled and nodded his head towards her "My pleasure Ms. Thomas". Once in the door Melanie gave the place a look around, it was a quaint little place. One that she had never been to.

Dolph made his way over to a table in the back, his guards finding another table close by but not too close. Seemed he wanted to have this discussion, just him and her. Which was perfectly fine, it's how it should be. With a glance backwards Melanie signaled with her eyes for her guards to grab a seat and that's what they did.

She then made her way to the back table and had herself a seat, directly across from Dolph.

"So, here I am. Let's talk!"

He smirked at her before motioning to one of the waiters to come over and service them.. Mary Collins rushed over with a cheery smile on her face, it was rather unusual to see a white woman working for a man color.. but Dolph was no regular man...

"Yes Mr. Thornton?" she said with a giddy tone as she approached the table and bower her head at Melanie

"Bring me out a bottle of whiskey and two cups for me and the miss' here.."

She nodded at him before gracefully leaving their presence to go fetch the bottle of whiskey from the back...

"So, Ms. Thomas.. it seems we find ourselves in the same city.. working for the same person.." 

Dolph said turning to Melanie and leaning forward to rest his hands gently on the table before him...

"Perhaps we can call it square between you and I.. you stole my money.. I shot at you.. made members of the mafia and all, and no casualties.. I'd say we are even yes?" he paused to clear his throat before continuing

"See, I'm quite new to this city.. and I could use all the friends I can get around here.."

“Seems we do.” She said with a bit of a defeated tone in her voice. Though she wasn’t really defeated but rather relieved to not have to worry about this part of her past anymore. 
 

Even though her first encounter with Adolph was rather amusing and profitable, it was one she was glad to not have to worry about. Plus the whole shoot out in the streets isn’t what you call professional. That was something else that would need to be cleaned up at some point. For now though she needed to make sure that Adolph and herself were on the same page. For the betterment of Philly. 

Melanie took the glass from in front of her, swirled the contents and brought the glass to her lips. Just prior to taking a sip, Melanie spoke up.

”I think that’s a good idea, calling it square that is.” 

She took a sip from the glass then placed it down onto the table in front of him.

”I mean... ah never mind. I think we can move forward from the past events but you need to figure out how to clean up that section in the streets we just littered with bullets. That’s all on you.” 
 

Melanie smiled before taking another sip.

Dolph was pleased to hear and smiled when she said 'I think we can move forward from the past' .. he handed the waitress a 20 dollar bill and told her to leave them alone for awhile.. she smiled and walked away like a good employee.. He picked up his glass and took a minor sip of whiskey before setting it gently back down on the table in front of him..

"I'm glad to hear you think that we can move forward, It is in both of our best interest to keep the relations up between both families.."

He stopped and cleared his throat, the whiskey was still clinging to the back of it and it left a unpleasant feeling..

"Excuse me for that.. Ah, but yes, I will see to it that whatever comes about of our little "fiasco" will be swept under the rug.. I handle the payments to the local police here in Bella Vista, I'll see to it they get a little bit extra this week for the headache.."

Dolph stared down into the glass of whiskey in front of him.. He wasn't sure if he should take another sip or not... he glanced back up at Melanie

"So what brings you to the east side anyhow? Ain't seen you around here before until today.."