Pretty When You Cry || An Eminem Fanfiction

She wasn't made for glass slippers.
She was made for bruised knees, smeared mascara, and being told she's pretty with his hand around her throat.

Kendra Knox was never anyone's princess.
She grew up in a trailer with EBT cards, overdue bills, and a mother who treated her like competition.
Fairytales weren't bedtime stories. They were lies people with money got to believe.

Now she dances at Eden's Gate, wearing dollar store glitter and six-inch Pleasers, collecting rent one lap at a time.
No carriage. No ball. Just blood, tears, and survival.

Then he shows up.

Not a prince.
A problem.
Marshall Mathers.

Famous. Filthy. Untouchable.
He doesn't ride a horse. He rolls up in a black Escalade, smells like smoke and sin, and looks at her like she's already his.

He doesn't save her.
He drags her into his world.
A palace with no exits, a crown that cuts, and rooms that lock from the inside.

He calls her beautiful while she's crying.
Keeps her quiet with cash and attention that feels like violence.
And she lets him.
Because it's not love.
It's not safety.
But it's still better than going back to being nobody.

This isn't a fairytale.
It's a dirty one.
And she wears her crown like a bruise.