Excerpt: 'Never Let You Go' by Katy Regnery

Katy Regnery shares an excerpt from her new New Adult contemporary romance, Never Let You Go.

About the book:

In this modern retelling of Hansel and Gretel, 13-year-old foster children, Holden and Griselda, escape from their abductor after three years of brutal captivity and try to cross the Shenandoah River on foot. Tragically, one of them makes it to safety but the other is left behind.

Ten years later, Griselda's boyfriend drags her to a fight club grudge match where her world is turned upside down when she watches Holden step into the ring.

Though the connection between them is fierce, bitter regret, simmering rage and a cache of physical and emotional scars lie between them, just as dangerous as the whitewater of the Shenandoah.

Never Let You Go is a story of fear and hope, defeat and survival, and two people — once profoundly broken — who discover that love is the only thing that can make them whole again.

This is a stand-alone novel inspired by Hansel & Gretel.

Katy sets the scene for us …

Katy: In Never Let You Go, both Holden and Griselda reflect on their childhood in compact flashbacks that invite the reader into the shared history of the two main characters. In this flashback, Holden recalls his first stirrings of romantic love for Griselda — a love forged with such profound strength, in a place so bleak and hopeless, not even death can break it.

EXCERPT

Griselda made life bearable.

So bearable that, while Holden lived in constant fear of beatings, there were some days he thought he'd die if he was ever separated from her, even if it meant his freedom.

He knew that part of him should hate her for getting in that truck, and for a little while after their abduction, he had. He'd refused to speak to her, despite her efforts to reach out to him. He'd purposely gotten her in trouble a couple of times, watching with terror and guilt as she was beaten in front of him. He'd shunned her attempts at friendship, listening as she cried in the darkness on the other side of the paneled wall.

But over time, faced with the reality of his life, he'd warmed up to her. She lived in the darker half of the basement, accessible only through a padlocked door or broken wall panel, and sometimes when the Man forgot to bring down two porridge bowls, Holden heard her crying softly from hunger.

Gradually he came to realize that it wasn't her fault that he was here—he'd followed her into the cab of the truck of his own free will, after all—and his heart gravitated toward her bit by bit, until a solid friendship formed between them. And lately, a few weeks after his twelfth birthday, his feelings for her had blossomed into something deeper entirely.

When they were out in the garden together under the hot sun, after the Man had finally dozed off in the shade, she'd whisper long, made-up stories, her lips sometimes tilting up just a little as she got to "the good part." When her blue eyes lit on him, bright and soft, it made things happen to him that he couldn't explain.

It made him feel strong and weak, happy and terrified, excited and guilty. It made strange and new things happen to his body that felt good, but wrong, somehow, even though he couldn't help them. It made him try harder to remember his parents. It made him desperate to review what little he knew about men and women being together. It made him want to learn more about those things with her.

He'd lived with her for twenty months now, and she was as much a part of him as his family had been long ago. More, even. Gris was his whole world.

The lock clicked shut at the top of the stairs, and his heart raced with anticipation, knowing that his favorite part of the day was coming. He was a prisoner in a filthy, dark, dank cellar, and yet when the basement door clicked shut and he heard the panel slide to the side as she crawled out from her black hole, his heart hammered with nothing but love for her.

"Holden?"

"Yeah?"

"You still up?"

"Yeah."

"Can I get in bed with you?"

Goose bumps rose across his skin, and his breathing hitched. For almost as long as they'd lived in the Man's basement, Gris had crawled into bed with him at night, lying beside him until it was time for them to separate to sleep. Asking his permission was new. And it made him feel different. It made their relationship feel different somehow—in a good way, in an exciting way—like she acknowledged the subtle changes he was noticing too.

"'C-c-course," he whispered, moving closer to the wall, as his body flushed with heat and he folded his sweaty palms over his pounding chest.

The mattress depressed just a little as she lay down beside him. And suddenly, he could feel the warmth of her, the softness of her bare arm pressed against his.

"Holden?"

"Yeah, Gris?"

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry we're here. I'm so dang sorry I took that ride."

This was a familiar refrain, and no matter how often he told her she could stop apologizing, she still did. He took a deep breath and sighed. "I kn-kn-know."

"Do you still hate me? Ever? Even a little?"

"N-n-not anymore. You know that."

"But you did? You hated me?" She rolled onto her side, facing him.

He clenched his jaw, staring up at the darkness. He loved her too much now to admit how much he'd hated her then. He wanted to forget he'd ever felt anything but love for her. Shifting to his side to mirror her, he placed a trembling hand on her hip and pressed his forehead gently against hers.

"Don't ever hate me again," she whispered, her warm breath fanning his lips. "Promise."

He swallowed, his heart bursting with love for her, his soul swearing that he would never, ever love anyone as deeply as he loved her.

"I won't ever hate you again. I p-p-promise, Gris."

Find out more about Katy and her books at katyregnery.com.