Maverick POV

The shouting woke me first, followed by Jazz barging not my room. "What the hell, Jazz!" I shout pulling the covers back over me.

"She's gone" she gasps out and then I realise who she means.

"How" I bark back at her before apologising "Shit, sorry Jazz, I didn't mean to have a go, its just a shock"

"Aunt Ginny came in to wake us up, and she wasn't there, I didn't hear anything, what if..."

I cut her off "Don't say it, have you checked the house?" I say and she nods.

"They are checking downstairs and the grounds now, John asked me to wake you all up, to see if you heard anything in the night?" she says and I groan getting out of bed.

"Fuck, I didn't hear anything, I'll wake Beau, you wake Trent and tell him" I told her, following her out the door. I banged on Beau's door and opening it striding into the room as I heard Jazz do the same to Trent behind me.

Beau's head came up sleepily and glared at me. "sssh, you'll wake her up" he growled quietly, stopping me in my tracks, My eyes darting to the piled cover next to him, I stepped closer and could make out Indiana's face relaxed in sleep.

"What the fuck, the whole house is looking for her" I hiss at him, "Get up and explain what the hell happened". I turn and go back to Jazz and Trent, blocking the doorway to Beau's room.

"She's with Beau and still asleep, Jazz can you let everyone know," I ask and with a worried nod she rushes off.

"Move" I hear Beau behind me and turn to face him, glancing at the bed behind him.

"What..."

"Downstairs, not here, she's still asleep" he steps out making us step back so he can shut his door. I can hear the shouting downstairs now and step aside to let Beau pass, he's going to have a job explaining what she was doing with him.

John was waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs and Beau held up his hands to him, speaking before John could say anything "She was scared in the night, I found her in the hallway and made her a hot drink, she was scared to go back to sleep... nightmares, so I said I would protect her, she slept next to me and I held her hand, that's all".

"Why didn't you take her back to her room?" John asked worriedly.

"Every time she looked up that hallway she shook, and she was so tired she was almost asleep on her feet, I'm sorry everyone panicked this morning... but she needed help last night, she needed me and I would do it again" he explained quietly

"She's okay, she slept?" John questioned.

"Yes, she didn't move all night, no nightmares and she's still asleep now" Beau tells him and I see the relief on Johns face.

"I don't like it, but if she needed you, I understand, just..." John rakes his hands through his hair.

"I'm sorry, I should have let you or someone know where she was, I didn't think" Beau said "If... If it happens again I will leave my door open and text everyone" he adds.

"Same for all of us" I said stepping up next to Beau and looking at John.

"Thank you" I heard rasped from behind us and we all swung round to see Indiana stood at the top of the stairs, her face flushed as she looks down at us. He eyes avoiding looking at Beau directly, was she embarrassed.

"Anni, how are you feeling?" John pushed past us and moved up towards her.

"I'm sorry I worried everyone, I didn't think last night" she mumbles and looks away.

We are all still watching her until Thomas clears his throat from the kitchen hallway , "Sir. the Police are at the gate to interview Miss Anni"

"Damn it, I told them to ring before they came. Thomas, let them in and show them to the study, Boys stick around in case they have any further questions. Anni, are you feeling up to this?" John asks her and she nods but I can see the worry on her face.

"I'll get dressed and come down, will you, will you stay with me?" she asks and John pulls her into a hug murmuring reassurances to her.

I clap Beau on the shoulder "You got lucky" I hissed at him quietly, realising how jealous I sounded, damn, I had never been jealous of my brother before. I could feel Trent's eyes on me as I pushed past Beau and headed for the kitchen.

"Wait, come to the gym" Beau called after us. I exchanged a glance with Trent who sent me a quick nod, and we silently followed Beau.

"What!" I rounded on him as soon as the door was shut behind us.

"Damn it. I like her and... I know you both like her too, question is, what do we do?" he asks, sitting on the weight bench and looking up at us.

"What do you mean?" Trent asked and I held my breath waiting for Beau to tell us his thoughts.

"As I see it we have a few choices to make" he pauses as if collecting his thoughts "She is our sister to everyone, we respect that and ignore whatever it is we are feeling for her and treat her just as that... a sister"

"Or" Trent prompted.

"If you're not interested say so and step back if not then we chase her, there's no blood relationship, it's not illegal, just not often heard off, and may the best man win" he says running his hands through his hair.

"You'd fight us for her?" Trent said aloud, looking down at Beau with a scowl.

"I'd have to, I don't think I can walk away from her" he groaned. "Fuck!"

I looked between my brothers, I had known Beau was interested and had felt Trent was but this was more than I was expecting, observing their tense body language, I knew we were going to clash badly unless we could work something out.

I straightened up "For the time being she is our sister, she needs to get through the current situation first and don't forget, she's only seventeen, we don't even know if after everything we've done she would be interested in any one of us"

"So what do you propose, are you suggesting we share?" Beau narrowed his eyes at me.

"No, Don't be silly. We do everything we can to keep her safe, we take the time to get to know her and for her to know us, not as bullies but take her out, do family and individual things with her, and then when she's eighteen, we can come clean and ask her to choose" I suggest carefully.

"And what if she won't choose one of us?" Trent muses, making Beau growl.

"Lets just see what happens, you know we can't do anything now, so let's give it a try, for her" I push and wait until they both nod their agreement. "Good, now let get our shit together, we need to check in with Matt or Jack, see if they managed to get into the Professors files"

"You think it was him last night?" Trent queries.

"I'd bet money on it, its too much of a coincidence, but with no proof, the police won't do shit, we just have to hope the cctv was working at the restaurant or someone saw something"

"Mav...thanks"

I turn to look at Beau and nod then pause "Just keep Jackson and the others away from her"

Beau laughs "We don't need to worry about him. He will flirt but he is still hung up on some girl from his past"

"Who?" Trent asks curiously but Beau shakes his head.

"No clue, I only know about her because he got so drunk one night he let it slip, kept calling her his little desert flower, then he passed out when I tried to get a name out of him"

We are all laughing as we come out of the gym, but it quickly stops when we hear John's raised voice, Thomas is stood in the hallway and holds his hands up to stop us rushing into the study.

"Go and get dressed, then come back" he directs us, Trent moving first as I hesitate but Thomas waves us away, the look on his face telling us to get ready and I follow my brothers quickly upstairs, knowing we all want to be back as soon as possible.

The study door is open and Mom has joined John and Anni when we get back. My gaze goes to her and I can see the strain on her face as the argument continue around.

"Whats going on?" I ask stepping into the room and moving up next to her chair, coming to a stop at her side. I feel Trent and Beau move up next to me and realise we are surrounding her protectively.

"The exterior CCTV shows the Professor but there is nothing they can do as he denies being inside the restaurant and we don't have proof, says he was checking up on Anni as her mother was worried about her" Johns explains bluntly.

"That's total crap" I argue.

"Her mother has spoken to the Police and corroborated his story" John says bitterly.

We all turn and glare at the police officers, who shuffle awkwardly.

"What do we do?" Trent asked them taking a step forward.

"How do we keep her safe?" Beau hissed from my side.

"Listen boys, as I told your parents and Miss Bennett, we will continue to investigate but at this point we have no evidence to support your claims" the officer stood tall, hands on his utility belt as he glared back at us.

I glanced down at Anni and could see the tears in her eyes, my hand going down to grab hers in support. Her fingers wrapping tightly round mine as she looked bravely up at the officers. "Thank you for coming, do you need anything else?" she asked politely.

"No. We have your statement we will be in touch if we need more" he inclined his head at his colleague and after a final glance at us, he followed John out of the room.

"Are you okay?" I knelt down next to the chair and looked up at her, her hand still in mine. She nodded but I could see the sadness in her face.

"Anni", i let her hand go and moved back as mom came over to pull her into a hug.

I stepped back and turned to my brothers, lowering my voice so not to let mom hear. "Call Jack and Matt, we might get something from his calls, he must have contacted her mother". Beau nodded and they moved out into the hallway, pulling out his phone and calling Jack, while Trent called Matt.

"Mav" i glanced at mom and Anni, still holding each other before going out to join my brothers. "We have it!" Trent rushed out.

"Have what?" John asked from the doorway, Thomas at his side. "Boys have what?" he repeated with a stern glance.

Beau stepped forward, "We wanted Indi safe, so we cloned the professors laptop and phone and recorded all his conversations since yesterday afternoon... including the one with Indi's mother" he tells them and I see the shock then elation cross John's face.

"I should be telling you off, you know how many laws you've broken, but I don't care, where can I hear it?" John asked and I relaxed a little.

"Matt's got the best set up, we could go to his place, get copies, but the police..."

John cut me off "The Police are no good, we need to get rid of him ourselves"

"John" Mom calls him from the study.

"Coming" he replies, looking at us "Set it up, we'll go to his first and see what you've got, Thomas put the estate in lockdown please, no one in or out and all the security on, you'd better warn May"

"John" Mom calls again and he nods at us before going into the study.