France, 1993.
Gabriela Martinez has a problem to solve: she strongly suspects that her mentor and friend wants her as his mistress, her husband is increasingly neglecting her, and her latest illustration has been ruined. But while going to her favorite thinking spot in La Marbriére, the mountain overlooking her home in the Côte d’Azur, Gabriela makes a wrong turn and finds herself lost. There, in a clearing cocooned in emerald forest and towering cliffs, she finds a beautiful French coin, half-buried in dirt. Little does Gabriela realize the danger of that discovery, nor does she suspect the devastating consequences placing the coin on her favorite bracelet will have on her life.
Richard Harrison, an American intelligence officer, is unwillingly assigned to protect Gabriela after the resurfacing of the coin. Together with Maurice Nôret, Harrison’s counterpart in French intelligence, Richard attempts to bring to light the madman’s identity. But as the psychological games to terrorize Gabriela into silence grow more lethal, Richard’s budding love for this beautiful, talented woman becomes a dangerous handicap to them both.
Set in the exotic French Riviera, The Coin is a story of unfounded hatred, betrayal, love, and duty—of terrible and painful choices that, nonetheless, bring about personal triumph.