What if your attacker became your lawyer – and you didn’t know it?

Yifen Chen says her boyfriend raped her. But when she tried to seek help, he found an unthinkable way to keep her from seeking justice

• This article contains descriptions of emotional and sexual abuse

Loneliness has long been a marked facet of Yifen Chen's life.

Chen, a 26-year-old with a certain quiet and polite self-assurance, grew up in Taipei, Taiwan, caring for her mother, who had lupus. When she was a little girl, she would cook her own meals and go to school unaccompanied.