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“Olga forbade me from running a background check on you,” he said, clearly irritated about that fact. “So I’ll respect her wishes and hope that you’re a good guy. Don’t make me regret trusting you.”

What the hell was he talking about? He appeared to be expecting me to answer, so I stammered, “Um, okay.”

Jayden, the guy she said was married to her sister, stepped closer, getting into my space. With his brothers surrounding me, I couldn’t move away.

“Olga is my wife’s sister, which makes her a sister to all of us,” he started.

All the guys nodded in agreement.

“Olga is a great girl and she’s very important to all of us. You’d better treat her well,” he ordered. “Don’t get any funny ideas or grabby hands or hurt her in any way, or I promise you it’ll be the last thing you do. You seem like a nice enough guy, but that doesn’t mean we won’t kill you. And we’ll make it hurt, too.”

“What are you guys doing?” Olga screeched, pushing her way through the guys to stand in front of me as if blocking me from an attack.

I kind of loved that she was trying to protect me, even if that made me a wuss.

“This is an old friend who’s helping me out of a tight spot. Now leave poor Mikey alone!”

One of the guys snickered at the childish nickname and Olga waved a finger in his face.

“Look, you’re a retired rock star, not a tough guy, so back off Johnny or I’ll smash one of your guitars!”

“Wait, are you guys the Oliver Boys?” I asked, suddenly remembering the posters my sister had on her bedroom wall when we were kids. “Am I really getting shaken down by a middle aged boy band?”

Olga snickered. “Yeah, be careful or they’ll sing you to death.”

Over her head, Nick gave me another death glare. “I’m not in the band. I have my own security company and I know a lot of ways to hide a body. Remember that.”

Then he strode out of the room to go get more boxes, aging rock stars trailing behind him like little ducklings. When we were alone in the room, Olga turned to me.

“I’m so sorry about all that,” she said, wringing her hands like she thought I’d be mad at her. “For some reason, when my sister married into that family they decided to adopt me as their little sister. Their helpless little sister. They’re ridiculously overprotective.”

“Don’t they already have a sister?” I asked. “She’s married to the big guy?”

“Yeah, but Jen is the oldest and she kicks all their asses,” she said. “They wouldn’t dare try to boss her around the way they do with me. They’re too afraid of her. Thankfully, none of them besides Jayden live in Chicago, so I don’t see that more than a few times a year.”

“I have a feeling living with you is going to be interesting,” I said.

“You have no idea.”

Olga and I headed downstairs to help the guys move the rest of her belongings. She had way less stuff than I expected, all of it fitting in a small van and the back of her car.

“Are you bringing back another load?” I asked. “This can’t be all of it.”

“We threw out most of her shit,” Jayden said. “She had all this mismatched furniture that’s older than she is. Not even the damned Goodwill wanted it.”

“Shut it,” Olga said, bumping him with her shoulder as she walked by with a potted plant. “Don’t make me sorry that I helped you get together with my sister.”

I raised an eyebrow at Jayden.

“Her sister was less than excited about my history as a musician,” he explained. “Even though I’m mostly retired from the music industry and working as an attorney now, she still needed a little convincing to take a chance on me. Fortunately, Olga and her mother were on my side.”

He gave me a big, goofy smile. “We’re married now.”

I made a mental note to get on the good side of both Olga’s sister and her mother.

When the guys finished, they refused our offer of lunch, saying they were having dinner at Mrs. Pavlenko’s and needed to save their appetites. They each gave Olga a hug, then with a few parting warning glares at me, left the apartment. It seemed incredibly quiet without them all stomping around on my hardwood floors.

I spent a few minutes showing Olga around the rest of the apartment and telling her repeatedly to make herself at home.