Mel blinked at the mention of the company name. He didn't need to look it up, he remembered his family talking about it. A lot. If they found out that he knew the now owner of Techo...the cold knots in Mel's stomach clenched painfully and his chest grew tight. The older man finding it hard to breathe. Why couldn't Caden have owned some other company? Any other company? The fact that it was Techo made Mel's infatuation with the boy worse. Though Mel never planned to act on it, it was now an impossibility. If the tabloids got ahold of it, with Mel's age along with his adoptive family's fixation on Caden's company...they'd twist everything into something dark and manipulative. Mel didn't care about Techo! He cared about the teary-eyed and scared boy in front of him. The one who he wanted to hold and prevent anything bad from ever happening to again. Who he wanted to help and keep safe. Not for money or to help his family, but because Caden was a person who deserved to be treated with affection and care.<br/><br/>Mel lifted up one of his hands and brushed the tears from Caden's cheeks. Those shaky breaths and soft sniffles tearing the older man apart more than any hysterical crying ever could. How often did Caden sit alone crying like that? As though he was too afraid someone would hear him and either hurt or mock him for the tears? What could he do to get the boy to leave a situation that was clearly making him so miserable? Was he scared of violence? Had they hit him? Caden said they'd had him go through 'mannerism training', and Mel hoped it was simply that. Not that it sounded pleasant but if Caden was just using the words and actually meant some type of conversion therapy...No. Even if he didn't how could he let Caden stay in such a bad situation? The way Caden had leaned into his touch seeking affection, attention, he could see how the boy would have tried to find that by sleeping around. Then to be told he wasn't allowed to leave, would be forced to marry someone at twenty who he didn't have an interest in.<br/><br/>"Caden," Mel started, his voice even more gentle than it'd been before, "do you want to leave? I'm not asking if you want a break from your family or to stay over for a few nights, but if you want to not have to go back. You could come to the shop as much as you want, every day if you want. If you don't want to stay with me, and again I'd be more than happy to have you, I know some of the others would be more than willing to let you stay. You're not alone alright? I know you probably feel like you are. They probably told you that no one would or could help you, but they lied,"<br/><br/>The older man moved his hand back up to Caden's hair, keeping his touch gentle and comforting, "My offer to let you live with me still stands. I don't care about the company you own. I care about you and I'm worried. I'm worried about what they'll do to you. About what you'll have to go through and what you'll end up suffering before all is said and done. I'm worried that they'll twist and bend you to fit their ideas and...and how they'll toss you aside when you break..."<br/><br/>Mel stopped and dropped his hand from Caden's hair to rub at his own wrist. Perhaps he was simply projecting on that point but...it'd be easy for them to do. Caden was just so young and they were isolating him. If it continued they could leave the sweet and gentle boy who's company Mel enjoyed nothing but shattered pieces. It would take so much longer to help him put himself back together if it came to that. Though of course, Mel would. He refused to abandon Caden. He would not leave him alone. He would not let him suffer alone.<br/><br/>"I don't want to see that happen to you. I don't want to see you forced to marry someone. So please, I'll keep my promise and not say a word, but let me help you," Mel could no longer keep the desperation or fear out of his voice. He'd tried but...the more Caden said the less he liked.