He ultimately just wanted her to be safe. He wasn’t being observant though of her feelings, thats true.
This is the only motivation I can see for August to do the crap he did. He said something about her being safe in the system but now she’s out. Since he isn’t actively involved in her life and therefore unable to literally protect her, he’s afraid something bad will happen to her. Like, she’ll die. He wants to keep her holed up and safe. If he could put her in a tower, he probably would. She was safe in the system, she’ll be safe in jail, etc etc… he doesn’t think of her as a person but as some object he needs to keep safe.
I still dislike him. Oh, so very much. He’s pompous and arrogant and self-righteous and selfish.