If he is a manipulator, do you really think that he wants a woman to have to keep (that's high maintenance), he is a grifter and conqueror onto the next conquest to prove he is the alpha man. Sophie has reduced felix to beta she has admitted that all along the physical relationship with her lover is more important than her marriage to Felix. The alpha protaganist has groomed, seduced and is now in the emotional manipulation phase, where he tells her what to think, dress and be and to pursue pleasure to hell with the cost. Felix is her safety net, her backup just in case... if the Alpha was loaded and proposed to her as the story stands now, she would ditch Felix and be off with the alpha in a heartbeat.