When I Flash-Married a Billionaire, My Ex Went on a Hunger Strike novel Chapter 60

The moment Ruby realized the snake shared her name, her face twisted with fury.

To her, it was clearly a deliberate insult.

"Adora, you’re unbelievable! You actually named that thing after me? What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Adora lifted the snake’s head with a gentle hand, her voice calm, almost sweet.

"My beloved pet, named after my dearest sister. It’s a beautiful way to honor you, don’t you think?"

She leaned forward slightly, letting the snake stretch in their direction.

"AAAHH!"

The Matthews family collectively shrieked again, stumbling back in sheer panic.

"Honor? You did it to mock me! You’re calling me venomous!"

Ruby burst into fresh tears.

"Dad, Mom, you have to stand up for me! I’ve done everything I could to be kind to her, and this is how she treats me…"

Adora rolled her eyes. "Crying again? If you don’t stop, I’ll let Ruby sleep on your bed tonight. She could use a cuddle buddy."

Ruby’s eyes went wide in terror, and just like that, the tears vanished.

Feeling satisfied, Adora chuckled and strolled back to her room, the snake coiled loosely around her arm.

She gently returned it to its enclosure and closed the lid.

Only then did the others in the house begin to breathe again.

"Adora, get rid of that snake!" Theodore barked, voice sharp.

"I won’t. I bought her, and I’m responsible for her. Unlike all of you, who couldn’t even be bothered to take care of your own family member,” she said coldly.

Eugene stepped in, trying to ease the tension. "But aren’t you scared to sleep with that thing in the room? I mean… it’s a snake."

"Scared?" Adora turned and looked at them, the corner of her mouth curling into a bitter smile.

"Do you have any idea how I survived those years I was trafficked? Locked in a filthy pigpen?

"Out in the countryside, mosquitoes were the least scary. There were bugs, centipedes, frogs, earthworms—creeping, crawling, everywhere.

“And yes, a couple of snakes made their way in too. Do you think I had the luxury of being afraid?"

Lilian’s face twitched, her voice shaky. "Adora… we know you suffered. We know it wasn’t easy for you…"

Adora cut her off, her voice flat, eyes unreadable. "No, you don’t. If you truly understood what I went through, you wouldn’t have treated me like this the moment I came back."

Adora replied with a brief message, relieved to hear her friend had finished the movie and returned safely to campus.

Meanwhile, her group chat notifications were blowing up.

She opened the app and saw the Market Gods group chat in full swing, everyone buzzing about tomorrow’s stock trends.

Several people had tagged her.

Once she caught up on the messages, she chimed in to answer their questions.

Elliot: Madame Lee, you’re finally here! We’ve been making short plays on micro-cap stocks the past two days—solid gains. Do you think we should hold or sell?

Madame Lee: If it's a short-term play on small caps, sell.

Mason: Agreed. Let’s sell tomorrow.

White-Coat Deity: I think the market's about to turn. The volatility should be settling down.

Adora grinned at her screen.

Adora: The stock market doesn’t care what you think. What you think doesn’t matter.

White-Coat Deity: Value investing is the only real strategy. What you're doing is just clever tricks—opportunistic speculation.