Page 68 of The Southern Submission

Me: She gave me the proof we need to tie Archer to the Olympus cyber attack. We can finally put him away. You’re going to be biting your tongues and wishing you’d never said anything bad about her. Or I’ll make you do it. She’s mine and she’ll be sticking around. Get used to it real quick or I’ll change your attitudes for you.

Zander: Oh, Pay’s finally found someone who brings out the caveman in him. Look at that, Hayes, he’s threatening us with violence instead of stopping us from fighting this time.

Hayes: How does it feel to be wrapped around a woman’s finger, ready to rip the world apart if it so much as dirties her shoe?

I lean back against the counter looking around at the pops of pink showing Ainsley’s presence. Her emotional support water bottle, as she calls it, that goes everywhere with her is on the island. A pink fuzzy blanket is draped over the back of achair by the fireplace, her worn copy of Pride and Prejudice still on the seat where she set it after I gave her the day collar necklace. A pair of pink sneakers remain by the door where she slipped out of them after her run the other day. I like seeing her in my space. The little reminders of her femininity and trust are a balm to my frayed nerves as I calculate how best to approach this PR nightmare we’ve found ourselves in. I pick my phone back up and reply.

Me: It’s the best fucking feeling in the world.

Forty

Ainsley

Fired.

I was fired from the fucking Gazette by a chino-wearing, mid-level editor who thinks the new median beautification project should be the focus of our front page instead of real news. I’ve sunk to a new low.

Reid even said, “You’ve done good work here. Great even. I had high hopes for our paper with you on staff. But your work on the Atlanta Haute List, while attracting quite the fervor, doesn’t align with the values of The Gazette. We’ve had hundreds of calls, emails, and inquiries for comment since you were revealed. This isn’t the way we want The Gazette to berepresented.”

He was certainly happy enough when my involvement with Payton doubled his subscribers and crashed our website because so many people wanted to check out the paper. Firing me because The Gazette is receiving more views, interest, and people actually caring about the paper is so fucking hypocritical. I didn’t have a non-compete clause in my contract, and it was never expressly stated that I couldn’t have a hobby that happened to be a public blog I’m not even profiting from. I handed in my decrepit laptop and told him to pony up for a new one the next time a reporter is hired because it sucks, turned on my heel and left while holding back angry tears.

Now I’m hiding in Payton’s loft, eating Payton's stash of peach Sour Patch candy by the handful and mindlessly doom-scrolling news sites as I wait for Della to arrive so she can commiserate with me. Ugh, this is so depressing. Story after story assaults me as I read through the headlines about the Olsens and myself.

Olympus Businessman Hoodwinked by Gossip Queen.

Payton Olsen’s Dating Habits Shed Light On Olympus Business Practices.

Billionaire Businessman’s Fake Relationship Casts Doubt On Olympus Credibility.

City Officials Pause Arena Construction Plans Amidst Ongoing Speculation Brought On By Olsen’s Fake Relationship.

Olsen’s Use of Gossip Site For Company Gain Revealed Along With Fake Relationship.

Unethical Journalism And Business Practices Bring Scrutiny To Olympus International Real Estate Development Plans.

Archer achieved exactly what he set out to do—shatter my credibility while fucking with the Olsens’ business. It doesn’t matter that the story was only up for a few hours. It has lasting effects that are haunting me. Was this my last day as a journalist?Certainly no one else will want me afteranothervery public screwup. I need to fix this. Not only for me but for Payton and his company. They don’t deserve to go down with my sinking ship, no matter what Payton says. I gave him the only thing I could to take down Archer, but maybe I can do more on my own.

I reach for my laptop and jump through Payton’s new security hoops to access The Atlanta Haute List site. I feel sick opening it and seeing the hundreds of posts I’ve made staring back at me, the majority about the Olsens in some capacity. It feels especially cruel to consider writing another story about them now, but I’m desperate to clear the air and make things right.

I open a new post and stare at the white screen with the blinking cursor accusing me of my misdeeds and the hurt I’ve caused through this site by writing about others.

It’s now or fucking never and about time I took back my power, admitted where I went wrong, and hope to do better.

The Atlanta Haute List

A Reckoning For A Reticent Reporter

Hi, it’s me, Ainsley Montgomery, the voice behind The Haute List and your partner in entertainment for the past two years. The previous post on my site was written by an angry ex-boyfriend who gets off on belittling and controlling others. That was made extremely clear by his raging rant. Instead of naming him now, I’m going to do something I should have years ago—rise above it and find the good I can do instead.

This will be the last post of The Atlanta HauteList.

The Haute List was started with good intentions, despite all the bad it has done. I wanted to provide a public arena to call celebrities, socialites, nepo babies, and yes, even businessmen, out for their bad behavior. The intention was to be an all-seeing eye in the sky to let them know someone was always watching, hoping it would make them behave better. However, intentions aren’t always obvious, and they certainly can change as the situation does. What began as a place to keep people on their best conduct soon became entertainment based. I unfairly targeted the Olsen family and Olympus International, setting them as the villains of my blog in some posts and fodder for amusement as I painted them into spectacles for your enjoyment. My own biases were showing in my reporting as soon as the family made it into my writing. I couldn’t be objective when I’d been manipulated and controlled by people so similar while I was dating the author of the previous post. You can probably tell how well that relationship ended by his tirade revealing my identity, trashing my credibility, intent on destroying a business, and calling my relationship with Payton Olsen fake.

What hurts the most is that it’s partly true. Payton and I initially began our relationship as a way to serve a need that doesn’t need to be discussed in public (see, Icando better). However, the more time I spent with Payton, the more he became a real person to me, instead of thisvilified caricature I’d created in my head. He’s sweet, caring, patient, helped me see my own worth when I’d lost it, defended me, and is so respectful. I somehow managed to fall in love with the man, not the mystique, while pretending to be together. This wasn’t the plan for either of us. I hated him at first, but he was determined to earn my trust and show me where the bar for the bare minimum should be set in a relationship by treating me better than anyone has before. The way he treats me shouldn’t be the exception but the rule for all of us. Dear reader, don’t settle for anything less than someone who sees all your vices, flaws, and failures, yet builds you up and shows you unconditional love despite it all.

I managed to find the love of my life, my soul’s complement, the man who knows me better than I know myself, while trying to keep him out and only pretending to date him. Now this site has jeopardized not only the love we’ve grown together, but both Payton and his business have been unfairly lumped in with my actions and words.

Olympus International and the Olsen family operate with the highest integrity, making calculated business decisions that may sometimes appear unfairly weighted in their favor. That’s how I always saw it, at least, but I’m learning to put my biases aside and evaluate the situation from a neutral standing as I always should have. Through that, I’ve discovered that I judged them unfairly for what can only be called shrewdbusiness practices. They haven’t done anything any other business wouldn’t do, yet I set them apart due to my own history with a similar company.

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