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It's not like Hartley chooses what happens in his life most of the time; things just kind of happen.
Like with his parents – it's not like he had a choice in who they are (he wishes he had, though, his life would be much easier with literally anyone else as his legal guardian). He blames them for the way he is – Osgood is a selfish prick, never there for his family, and Rachel is a vain bitch whose only concern is their social status. Hartley realises these things too late. As a kid, he thinks it's normal to be brought up by nannies, to see his parents once a week at most, to overhear them fighting about money and affairs and if they should send him to boarding school in Europe or closer to home (always Europe, always trying to get rid of him).
His relationship with them – if you could even call it that – comes to an end when Hartley comes out. To be fair, he does it in the worst possible way – in front of his father's business partners, after his dad missed his birthday again, and he knows he has a way with words that will shut up even the most powerful, dignified company owners, but he can't help it. He's angry and he's never felt as alone before. The closest thing he has to friends are his nannies, but they only spend time with him because they're paid to do it. If not even his parents care about him, how will anyone else? How will he?
They don't even give him enough time to pack his things before they throw him out. He has nowhere to go – he can't think of a single person who would take him in. So he empties out his bank account before they have the chance to do it.
He leaves the city.
College is somewhat of a blessing. Hartley establishes his position right away – he's more intelligent, more resourceful, just generally better than his fellow students, and everyone knows it. They hate it. They start to hate him. Luckily, he manages to shove enough money down the administration's throat to snatch a single room, which he's also allowed to live in during breaks; he figures he doesn't need anyone, he's always been on his own.
Even his professors despise him; he's still a straight A student, of course, but whenever he speaks up in class to tell them they're just plain wrong he can see the annoyance and disgust they try and fail to hide. He tries not to let it affect him.
He graduates one and a half years early and leaves.
Harrison Wells is the first person in Hartley's life to actually give a damn – he realises his potential and fosters it. He becomes Wells' right hand, has a say in almost every project. Hartley would never admit it out loud, he'd rather kick himself in the face than tell anyone but- He feels like he's finally found his place, and having someone care about him is so much better than being alone.
He realises his co-workers are insanely jealous of his relationship with Wells, but he just doesn't care. He doesn't need them. They aren't people he deems worthy of his time. For the first time in his life he's genuinely happy.
That is, of course, until Cisco fucking Ramon enters his life. For some reason Wells latches onto him immediately, calling him genius and prodigy.
Hartley hates him, with his stupid T-shirts promoting pop culture and his stupid smile and his stupid ability to have Wells believing his every word. In all fairness, he's the first one who comes close to matching Hartley's intelligence, but that doesn't mean they have to be friends. They're not. They never will be.
Hartley has always thought highly of Wells, but when he doesn't heed his warnings about the particle accelerator – which, of course, come true – he starts seeing his true colours. Wells is just as self-assured and conceited as him, but at least Hartley isn't killing people .
He leaves.
When the explosion of the accelerator affects his hearing, he feels like the pain is going to kill him. He hopes it's going to kill him; he doesn't really have anything to live for, now, does he?
But then again, he guesses, he can't deny the world his genius. So he works hard at creating a device that lets him regulate his hearing abilities, and constructs sonic gloves for good measure.
This is all Wells' fault. It's his fault that Hartley had been hopeful, that he had hoped his future would be better, that he'd find someone and be happy and do good things. In hindsight, he never should have let himself believe such fairytales. Wells needs to be taught a lesson.
He comes back.