diff --git a/app/services/bm25_index.py b/app/services/bm25_index.py
index c3f03c6..5aee25e 100644
--- a/app/services/bm25_index.py
+++ b/app/services/bm25_index.py
@@ -47,12 +47,18 @@ class BM25Index:
         """Rebuild from SQLite if dirty."""
         if not self._dirty:
             return
-        conn = sqlite3.connect(db_path)
-        conn.row_factory = sqlite3.Row
-        rows = conn.execute(
-            "SELECT id, doc_id, page_number, text FROM page_chunks ORDER BY doc_id, page_number"
-        ).fetchall()
-        conn.close()
+        try:
+            conn = sqlite3.connect(db_path)
+            conn.row_factory = sqlite3.Row
+            try:
+                rows = conn.execute(
+                    "SELECT id, doc_id, page_number, text FROM page_chunks ORDER BY doc_id, page_number"
+                ).fetchall()
+            finally:
+                conn.close()
+        except sqlite3.Error as exc:
+            logger.error("BM25 index rebuild failed: %s", exc)
+            return
         self._load_chunks([dict(r) for r in rows])
         self._dirty = False
         logger.info("BM25 index rebuilt: %d chunks", len(self._chunks))
diff --git a/tests/test_bm25_index.py b/tests/test_bm25_index.py
index 221cea2..43eea5b 100644
--- a/tests/test_bm25_index.py
+++ b/tests/test_bm25_index.py
@@ -43,9 +43,10 @@ def test_query_returns_relevant_result():
 
 
 def test_query_respects_top_k():
+    # "action" matches all three chunks; top_k=2 must hard-cap the result list
     idx = _seeded_index()
-    results = idx.query("rules", top_k=2)
-    assert len(results) <= 2
+    results = idx.query("action", top_k=2)
+    assert len(results) == 2
 
 
 def test_query_filters_by_doc_id():