Hayley turned to the bottle and Will Cortlandt for comfort. Having been disinherited by his Uncle Palmer, Will convinced a drunken Hayley to elope with him. When Will tried to force himself upon his virgin wife, Hayley couldn't bring herself to sleep with Will. Hayley slowly turned against nearly everyone who loved her, due to Will's manipulations and staunchly defended him when Gloria Marsh accused him of rape. Will was later found murdered after Hayley, in a drunken epiphany, finally realized the truth about him. Janet Green was later revealed as the murderer. After her relationship with Brian ended, Hayley was free to fall in love with Charlie Brent. They opened Pine Valley Investigations and had a wonderful relationship until Adam, once again stepped in and broke up this relationship. Adam turned over the CEO position of Enchantment to Hayley as a consolation prize in order to control her.