Elena’s POV

I barely had time to draw a breath before Stella moved.

There was no warning, no dramatic pause, not even a change in her expression. One moment she was standing in front of me by the lake, the next her hands were on my shoulders, shoving forward with a sudden, merciless force.

For a split second, my mind raced through every ugly possibility I had been bracing myself for since she appeared—being framed, being dragged back to the house in disgrace, being accused of seduction ...