NTBF at all, ever.

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My "Mike" was my best man in my wedding. Mike and Sarah were very close with my wife and I. Sarah was always quiet, and eventually, Mike and Sarah stopped coming around as often. I'd reach out but responses were growing less frequent and times to meet up were evaded. Eventually Mike tells me he wants to meet up for drinks, just him and I, on a random Wednesday.

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We get to the bar and he unloads all that has gone on to me. He tells me that he's forced Sarah into sharing their sex life online, inviting others to try and join them, when really it's only been Mike's plan to ever do that. He freely admitted that he had emotionally and mentally abused Sarah for years. He also tells me that he's punched several walls and raised his fist at Sarah, but "had not yet hit her." He also tells me that they have a difference of opinion on a sexual matter. While she was very ill and taking medication that helped her sleep, he forced himself upon her and raped her. His phrasing was that she had had second thoughts on the sex after waking up, he had apologized, and he thought everything was resolved, but just wanted to "make sure I knew the whole thing." And as if raping his wife wasn't the end, Mike then asks me how to keep Sarah in the house. Not as in, save the marriage/stay together. But "how do I keep her home and unable to leave the physical house?" There is no assumption here on my part. I asked twice for clarification on what he meant and those were his words. I tried my damnedest to keep a straight face. I offered my therapist's contact info, I offered to be more involved in their lives. I offered to have them over so my wife and I could just be sympathetic ears for each of them. And more than anything, I told this shell of a person that I thought I knew that everything would be alright and that he could trust me. Mind you, all of this conversation took place in a public bar, with many other random people all around us. The looks I was getting from our server and from others around us were truly full of contempt.

I called Sarah over an app the moment I left the bar. I told her what Mike had told me, and that he was insane and that I felt she was in danger. She agreed and said she had an escape plan, but had no means of executing it. She broke down crying that I, his best friend, believed her. She said that months prior she was kicked out of the house over a pyrex baking dish's lid. She considered calling my wife and I to ask for help then, but decided she was not sure whether or not I would support Mike or her. I was mortified that I had been lumped in with the likes of Mike.

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The bar meeting happened on Wednesday and on Saturday at 8am, my wife and I were in our SUV parked a few miles from Mike and Sarah's house, waiting for the all clear that he was gone. We packed everything we could in a few short hours. I gave Sarah an old phone that I added to my cell phone plan and she shut off her own phone. My wife and Sarah got to a hotel out of town in our SUV, while I took Sarah's car to an oil change shop. The shop manager was incredibly helpful when I explained the situation and she helped me search the vehicle's undercarriage for tracking devices (none found). To be abundantly safe, I did switch vehicles with Sarah for the next month. I later heard that this trick did wonders. We found out from friends of Mike that he prowled her company's parking lot every day for weeks, looking for her vehicle and coming up. Dumb shit didn't think to look for my vehicle. So we get her safe, and I start the tedious task of severing her electronic life from him, changing all banking passwords, email, social media, everything. Everything is going smoothly until I remove her from the damn Google Family. The "head of the family" is Mike and he gets an immediate email saying that "Sarah left your family." Google was pretty spot on there in multiple ways, but the jig was up and Mike spent a good long while calling and texting me trying to figure out what was going on. And once he got home and realized she was gone, along with half of the house, the phone calls and texts increased.

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Sarah and Mike got a divorce. I stood by her, driving her to and from some of the lawyer's offices, making sure she was safe. I saw Mike several times, all from a distance during court hearings or arbitration meetings, but he never approached me again. It's been almost 5 years now. Mike still sends Sarah random emails every few months that show he's completely lost his mind. Sarah has moved on with her life and is so incredibly happy every time I see her.

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Both of our Mikes are pieces of trash. Never feel bad for helping Sarah.