Frequent Traveller (Cathy Dixon #1) by Pandora Poikilos Read Free Book Online Page A

Stockholm is rich in culture, literature, music, performing arts and annual festivals. In 1634, Stockholm was declared the official capital of the Swedish Empire and still holds on to this title with the royal family of Sweden currently residing in the Drottningholm Palace. It is also home to the world's oldest military training centre built in 1790. This facility has remained in the same location ever since.
     
    With more than eight million tourists in the city centre annually, a large part of Stockholm's population plays an active role in tourism and the service industry. As many as ten Michelin star restaurants thrive in Stockholm. Every street is peppered with a variety of eateries which serve a range of local and international flavours such as French, Italian, Greek, Middle Eastern, Asian. Fast food restaurants, bars and coffee spots are also popular haunts for locals and tourists.
     
    Christmas was barely three weeks away and the streets were decked with colourful decorations. But Yuletide joy was the last thing on Cathy's mind as she stepped into the crowded lobby of MoonStar Stockholm. Even if no Christmas decorations dotted the place, she hardly recognised the chic interior she remembered from her training days.
     
    Today it was filled with reporters, curious onlookers, MoonStar associates of various rankings and could have been likened to a zoo. Three days earlier, this was the MoonStar property on every news channel known to man.
     
    Well-known American business mogul Ross Morrison aged forty-eight years old was a household name in Europe, for creating the multi-billion dollar mobile communications company, Roamy Inc. Even after being in business for more than ten years, it still held a worldwide market share of at least 32%. This made it the second biggest mobile communications player next to Apple and Nokia.
     
    If Roamy Inc. had not provided him with a lavish lifestyle, his other businesses more than made up for it. Morrison was also well known for his musical ventures, be it with singers, bands or in the theatre. His wife of more than ten years had carved a name for herself by being behind one of the more popular fashion labels for teenagers, Impulsations.
     
    But disaster had slowly weaved into their lives a few nights earlier. It was alleged that Morrison spent the night with a social escort at MoonStar Stockholm. He had a driver pick her up from her apartment, they went for dinner, headed off to a popular local bar, staggered back to his hotel suite and had consensual sex or so he claimed. Her version differed from the point when she helped him up to his room and was to take a cab home but he had forced himself on her.
     
    Needless to say, things took a dramatic turn when she ran out of the suite screaming and into the lobby dressed in nothing but a bed sheet. Morrison was subsequently arrested and charged before he could leave the country but it would take weeks before the media attention died down. It was early December now and Christmas holidays or not, this would be an added buzz in all gossip columns dragging MoonStar Stockholm in its wake.
     
    Although the property had one of the best public relations teams of all the European MoonStar properties, they had called Corporate Office to ask for more assistance. This was beyond standard operating procedures and keeping the media at bay was a losing battle not to mention the few stragglers of associates who sought their shot at stardom by issuing unauthorised comments to the media. All in, it was a circus and Cathy realised it would be a day or two before she got a good night's sleep, jet-lagged or not.
     
    The suite in question was still sealed off as police waded through evidence and red tape before handing it back to the property’s management team who assured all relevant authorities their full co-operation. To prevent any contamination of evidence or hotel associates seeking trophies, only two people outside the investigating team had access to