Chapter 8 Welcome the Commander Back!!

"I refuse." Sia responded word by word.

Hearing this answer, the smile on Alvin's face froze.

He turned around and looked at Sia in disbelief: "What did you say?"

"I said, I refuse." Sia stood beside Caesar, her blue eyes unwavering as she said: "I will not marry a man who talks big in front of someone else's wife." She paused, a cold smile curling at the corner of her mouth: "I've learned all about the Locke family's manners today."

As her words fell, the hall became dead silent.

Alvin's face turned ashen.

The youngest son of the Locke family, the favorite heir of Harbor City's richest man, had been publicly rejected.

This was an unprecedented humiliation!

"Sia!" Job strode over and said in a deep voice: "What nonsense are you talking about?"

"Dad, I've made myself very clear." Sia looked at her father.

Job lowered his voice, almost speaking through gritted teeth: "Do you know what one-third of the Locke family's fortune means? That's ten years of profit for the Adams family! You're going to destroy the family's future for a useless man?"

"So in your eyes, your daughter is just something to trade for family assets?" Sia's voice trembled slightly.

"You!"

"Enough!" Rebecca's voice suddenly rang out.

She stepped forward and said firmly: "Job, Sia just recovered her health, and you want to sell her off as a bargaining chip? Do you even deserve to be called a father!"

Hearing this, Job froze.

In twenty years, Rebecca had never contradicted him in public.

Alvin watched this scene coldly.

"How touching." He clapped his hands, his voice full of mockery: "But I don't have time to watch your little drama."

He raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

The four plainclothes security guards on the second floor moved simultaneously, appearing in the center of the hall almost instantly and surrounding Sia.

From their movements, these four were clearly not ordinary security guards, but well-trained mercenaries.

"What do you mean?" Sia's expression changed slightly.

"The meaning is simple." Alvin adjusted the cuffs of his white suit and said: "I've never failed to get a woman I've set my eyes on. Since Ms. Sia Adams won't give the Locke family face, I'll just have to change my approach."

He stepped forward and lowered his voice: "By the way, let me remind Mr. Adams that behind the Locke family stands the Phoenix family. And I am the Phoenix family's only representative in Harbor City."

The Phoenix family! That was the third-ranked family in the entire country.

These four words were like a bucket of ice water poured over Job's head.

Job's hands began to tremble.

"Mr. Locke." His tone softened, even carrying a hint of flattery: "Sia is young and ignorant, please don't hold it against her. This matter... we can discuss it further."

"Dad?" Sia looked at her father in disbelief.

Job didn't meet her eyes, only bowed slightly to Alvin: "Mr. Locke, please go ahead."

With that, he stepped aside from the path in front of him.

Sia watched this scene, frozen in place.

She had thought her father would weigh the benefits, hesitate, struggle.

She had even thought her father would try to persuade her, coax her, force her.

But she never imagined that her father wouldn't even put up a final struggle before handing her over.

So in her father's eyes, she wasn't even a bargaining chip.

She was just a gift that could be given away at any time.

Rebecca rushed forward to stand in front of Sia: "Job! Have you lost your mind!"

"Take the lady back to her room." Job waved to his subordinates.

Two servants stepped forward, grabbed Rebecca, and forcibly dragged her toward the side door.

"Let me go! Job! Sia is your daughter!"

Rebecca's voice grew fainter and finally disappeared outside the side door.

Alvin smiled with satisfaction: "Sensible. Now then..."

He walked toward Sia and reached out his hand.

Just then, a deep rumbling sound came from outside the estate.

The sound was heavy and low, approaching from far away, like muffled thunder rolling across the earth.

The crystal chandelier began to tremble slightly, and the champagne in the glasses rippled with fine waves.

The rumbling grew closer and denser.

That sound—it was like tank treads!

The sound of heavy armored vehicles crushing the ground!

"What's happening?" someone cried out.

The hall door was pushed open, and a servant stumbled in: "Sir! Outside... outside is full of military forces!"

Job rushed to the window and pulled back the curtain.

The estate's iron gate had already been smashed open.

The previously noisy banquet hall suddenly fell silent as everyone looked toward the window.

In the night, dozens of military armored vehicles drove into the Adams Estate.

In the sky, three armed helicopters circled, their searchlights illuminating the entire estate like daylight.

That light pierced through the banquet hall's huge floor-to-ceiling windows, even overshadowing the crystal chandelier's glow.

Inside the banquet hall, hundreds of elite guests stood frozen.

They stared at the convoy outside, their minds blank.

What was happening? Why would the military appear here?

Alvin's unfinished words stuck in his throat.

His arrogant face was now full of fear.

His bodyguards' hands had already reached for their guns, but not one dared to draw.

Because on top of those armored vehicles outside, several heavy machine guns were pointed directly at the banquet hall.

The banquet hall's main door was pushed open from outside.

Two teams of soldiers in dark blue combat uniforms filed in.

Their steps were steady, movements synchronized, weapons gleaming coldly under the lights.

Every face wore a serious expression, eyes sharp as hawks.

The soldiers quickly occupied every corner of the banquet hall.

They stood there, backs straight, hands gripping their weapons at chest level.

That invisible sense of oppression made all the guests afraid to even breathe.

Then came the sound of military boots on the marble floor.

Twenty-eight generals entered in formation, wearing dark blue general's coats, their shoulder insignias uniformly displaying five gold stars that sparkled under the lights.

Five-star generals—the highest military honor in the Republic of Arcadia.

Any one of them appearing in public would be enough to cause a sensation.

And here, there were a full twenty-eight five-star generals.

They marched in unison, expressions solemn, as if performing a sacred ceremony.

Leading them was Unai, Deputy Commander of The Holy Fleet.

His gaze passed over the hundreds of dumbstruck guests and locked precisely onto Caesar standing in the center of the hall.

The man he had followed for ten years.

The man who had transformed The Holy Fleet from an overseas exile force into a global nightmare.

Unai's eyes reddened slightly as he walked before Caesar: "Salute!"

In the next second, all twenty-eight five-star generals knelt on one knee in unison.

Unai knelt at the front, right fist pressed against his chest.

He lowered his head and said word by word: "The Holy Fleet Deputy Commander Unai, leading twenty-eight generals under my command!"

"Welcome the Commander's return!"